Let It Rip!
by HardWrapping
Summary: Beyblade AU. Hiccup Haddock has never really been a fan of bey-battling. But when he gets a package from his mother that contains an odd and never before seen beyblade, things start to change. Watch as he, his friends, and his new blade the Night Fury take on the world and fight their way to the top to become the best. Multiple Disney/Dreamworks crossovers.
1. The Gift of the Night Fury

The alarm went off and Hiccup let out a groan. He rolled over and slammed his hand down on top of it, and then rolled back over. He was perfectly content with sleeping in today. He could afford to miss another day of school. He was a straight A student after all. Just as he was about to drift back to sleep, he felt something land on top of his chest. He looked up and then saw a black furred puppy on his chess. "Uh… Toothless. Go back to bed."

He closed his eyes back, but then felt something wet moving across his face. Toothless licked his face and bit down on his ear giving it a light tug. "The dog wants you up son, and so do I." He opened his eyes back up and looked to see his father standing in the doorway. "Up at em son! You have school to go to today!" He said walking over and pulling his blanket off.

Hiccup groaned and pulled the blanket back. "Oh c'mon dad, can't I just skip a day? We both know there's no way I could fail at this point." The school year was almost over and he'd pretty much completed all of his necessary work. He could skip the rest of the month and still pass. Besides, going to school meant dealing with _him_ again, and he wasn't in the mood for that.

"No son, I don't want you getting into the habit of sleeping in or skipping in. Now get up and start getting dressed. Breakfast is ready." He said walking out. Hiccup sighed and then began rolling out of bed. If he didn't his dad was going to come back with a bucket of water, and no one wanted that.

Reluctantly, he got up and started getting dressed. A few minutes later he made his way into the kitchen, with Toothless following behind him happily. He took a seat and his dad set a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in front of him. "Wow, nice spread." Hiccup commented.

"Well, given what we just got in the mail this morning, I figured had to make it special. This ought to brighten you day son." He said holding up a package. Hiccup looked at it curiously before noticing the name labeled on it. "It's from mom." He said growing a smile on his face.

His father nodded. Hiccup's mother had been traveling around for some time now. He didn't exactly know what for, and his father just said he'd find out when the time was right. But every now and then his mother would send him gifts and letters for him and his father.

Last time she'd sent him a strange looking tooth. His mother had wrote that it was supposed to be a dragon's tooth. He didn't believe it of course, but he couldn't find anything like it online.

"Aye, it is. Didn't want to open the package until you were awake. Would you like to do the honors?" He said motioning towards the box he'd laid on the table.

Hiccup reached forward and grabbed it before opening it up. He reached inside and pulled out a piece of paper. "Dear Hiccup and Stoick, I know it's been a while since I've last written, and I apologize. I've been on some rather important and very urgent business." Hiccup read. As usual the letter didn't say exactly what this business of hers was.

"But now that I've had a chance to settle down for a bit, I figured I should let you know I'm doing alright, and send a special present I've been saving just for you Hiccup. Go ahead and get it now son, I think you'll like it." He stopped and then looked back towards the box. He reached inside and then felt something small and metal. "Huh?"

When he pulled it out he looked over it and quickly realized what it was. "A Beyblade?" He asked looking surprised. It wasn't as if he'd never seen a beyblade before. Almost every kid had one. He'd only gotten rid of his because wasn't very good, and if he didn't have one then _he_ couldn't force him to battle anymore. But this one was different.

It was pure black, which little traces of light blue on the side. On the face bolt was a strange looking symbol that seemed to resemble a dragon. "What a fine looking Beyblade." His father commented. "I've never seen one quite like it before."

"Me either." Hiccup said looking the piece of work up and down. It was definitely an attack type from what he could tell, but other than that, he couldn't tell anything about it. He turned back to the letter hoping it would explain something. "I hope you like it son. I came across this little piece of work some time ago, and I thought it'd be best to leave it with you."

Hiccup raised his eyebrow. Came across it? So she just found it in the middle of who knows where and figured she'd send it to him? That was weird, even by their family standards. He kept on reading. "I want you to take good care of it son. It's called the Night Fury, and it's very special. Make sure to have fun with your friends when you play."

He scratched his cheek. He didn't really have 'friends'. He had kids that picked on him a lot, but no real 'friends'. He loved every presence his mother sent him. Even if he didn't have an interest in her little gifts, he treasured them dearly. But a Beyblade? This meant that _he _would have an excuse to mess with him again.

He thought about just leaving it at him, but his dad would find that odd. He supposed he'd just have to hide it until he got back home. He read on. "Also, eat your vegetables, wash behind your ears and… this is just a bunch of clichéd motherly advice."

Stoick chuckled and took the letter. "Well, that's your mother for you." He skimmed through the letter himself. "Stoick, make sure he does everything I just ordered. And make sure you cut back on your meat and cholesterol intake." He read off with a frowned. Hiccup stifled a laugh. "I send this letter with my love. Take care you two." He finished.

Hiccup looked over his Beyblade again. The Night Fury. Somehow the name seemed to fit. He placed it in his pocket, making a mental note to thank her for the gift. "It really is an impressive looking Beyblade son. I'm sure it'll give the kids at school a run for their money." Stoick said giving him a light pat on the back.

Hiccup chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I'm sure it will."

* * *

Hiccup arrived to school sometime later. He'd nearly been late since he'd had to tell Toothless to go back at least a dozen times, but eventually he gave up and the dog just waited for him outside like he usually did. The teacher had warned him about bringing pets to school, but after realizing the dog had no intention of leaving him alone, he seemed to just stop caring.

He slept through most of class. No one seemed to care since he always passed and didn't disturb anyone. The only real thing he had to worry about was their lunch break. That's when _he_ always came after him. The bell rang waking Hiccup up from his little nap. "Alright class, you're hereby dismissed. Came back after the hour… or not, don't really care." Their teacher Gobber said waving his hand.

It was obvious the old coot didn't take his teaching job seriously. In the humble little town known as Berk, almost everyone learned a trade from the moment they could walk. Hiccup was no exception to this rule, and was a fairly skilled mechanic as his dad was pleased to find out. Even the lowest scoring kids found work pretty easily.

Hiccup got up and prepared to walk out, but suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. "Morning cuz, where you headed off to?" A boy who was much bigger and beefier than he was asked with a smirk.

This boy was Steven Snotlout Jorgenson, his first cousin, and his bully. There wasn't a time that the boy wasn't beating him up. When they were kids it was just roughhousing, with no real ill intent behind it. But later Snotlout got more aggressive got a kick out of torturing him, whether it was beating him up or forcing him into bey-battles he couldn't possibly win.

"Hey there Snotlout. Just going to get some lunch." He said trying to get up. Snotlout barely had to try to keep him pinned down in his seat. "If I could just get up and… you know, leave."

Snotlout chuckled. "What's the rush man? Why not stick around and enjoy lunch with the gang? Talk about the end of the school year, do some Bey-battling." He said. "Right guys, he should stay and hang out with us?" He asked looking towards the others.

The group Snotlout hung with consisted of four others. There were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, he didn't know their real names. Neither of them were really as sadistic as Snotlout, but they seemed to like getting into trouble and chaos in general, and following him got them that in spades.

There was Fredrick 'Fishlegs' Ingerman. Hiccup was pretty sure he was only in the group just to keep from getting picked on himself. He couldn't really blame the guy of course. He was pretty sure if he had the chance he'd happily go along with the group as well.

And last but certainly not least there was Astrid. She was the fiercest girl in school, and had been his childhood crush since first grade. Like Fishlegs, she never really picked on him, she just stood aside and ignored his presence. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. At least if she was picking on him it meant she noticed him.

"Yeah, he should totally hang out with us, right sis?" Tuffnut said nudging his sister. Ruffnut spared him a glance before huffing and looking over her finger nails. Clearly she didn't feel like picking on him today for whatever reason.

Astrid, in a surprisingly moment of acknowledgement, spoke up. "Look, we have an hour to get some lunch and blade. Stop wasting our time picking on the runt and let's get going."

Hiccup decided to take advantage. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to hold you guys back. Besides, I don't even have a beyblade to battle with. So I guess I'll just get out of your hair and-"

"You don't?" Snotlout asked. "Because I could have sworn when I passed by Stoick this morning he told me that your mom sent you a little gift. A beyblade that he's never seen before."

That seemed to peak everyone's interest. "Whoa, a never before seen Beyblade? Can I take a look at it? If there's a new model out then I want to add it into the calculation for the upcoming-"

"NERD." Ruffnut cut off. She turned back towards Hiccup. "C'mon Haddock, if it really is a new blade then show us?"

Hiccup looked around at them. They all seemed to be looking at him expectantly. He knew there was no point in hiding it anymore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little black blade before holding it out in front of them. They all looked at it amazed. They really had never seen any blade like this before.

Snotlout immediately snatched it from him. "Let me see that!" He said before looking over it.

Hiccup stood up and reached for it. "Hey! C'mon Snotlout, give it back! It was a gift from my mother!" He said jumping up to get it. Snotlout held it too high.

"Relax, I'm not going to break it runt." He said eyeing the beyblade. He enjoyed bullying Hiccup, but he wouldn't stoop low enough to actually break a gift from his mother. Besides, if he broke it now, he wouldn't get to battle it later. "Weird. Fishlegs, break it down."

He tossed it to the hulking boy who just barely caught it in his hands. He gave Hiccup a look, as if asking for permission. Hiccup nodded and Fishlegs smiled. "Well let's see. Obviously an attack type, never seen this face bolt before. Rubber performance tip for exceptional speed and devastating attack, lightening fusion wheel, striker fusion wheel, and 085 spin track."

"Could you give us a translation for normal people please?" Astrid asked.

Fishlegs held up the beyblade. "This is one bad blade." He said smiling. "Hiccup, this thing is amazingly powerful. You're mother found you a ringer."

Hiccup looked at the blade surprised. He knew that it looked powerful, but he didn't think it was that strong. "Great, let's test this bad boy out." Snotlout said taking the blade and shoving it into Hiccup's arms. "C'mon, we can use the roof to battle."

Hiccup looked nervous. "Um, Snotlout, maybe we shouldn't do this. I mean we both know I suck as blading, even with this thing I'd barely be worth the effort."

Snotlout chuckled. "That's funny, you think I actually have to try to beat you." He said putting an arm around Hiccup's neck. He pulled him into a headlock and started dragging him along with him. "Don't worry, I'll hold back enough to see what that thing has in it. Then I'll take you down. Sounds fair right?"

"Amazingly fair." Hiccup said sarcastically.

The others followed behind the two, heading for the roof. Once they reached it Snotlout walked over to the other side and pulled out his own beyblade. Hiccup had recognized it from the countless times he'd seen it before. It was the Monstrous Nightmare. A crimson red beyblade that looked just as fierce and aggressive as its owner. It had a dragon's head with large horns on the face bolt.

"A crimson red energy ring, a Vulcan fusion wheel, UW145 spin track, and a semi defense performance tip." Fishlegs said to no one in particular. "A killer balance type."

Hiccup however took note. Any advantage he could get to keep his Fury from getting smashed into bits, he was going to use. "You ready to battle?" Snotlout asked.

"Not really, but do I have a choice?" It was a rhetorical question. If he had a chance to bail on this, he would take it in a heartbeat.

"Nope." Snotlout said smirking deviously. "Get ready! Three!"

"Two!" Fishlegs shouted.

"One!" The twins said smirking.

"Let it rip!"

Both Hiccup and Snotlout launched their beyblades. They landed a few feet from each other, neither making a move. "C'mon Hiccup, give me your best shot. I want to see what that thing it made of!" Snotlout said gesturing for him to attack.

Hiccup sighed pointed forward. Fury zipped forward with impressive speed and smashed right into Nightmare. It pushed it back a few inches, but then Nightmare stopped budging. "Is that all you got? Pathetic!" Snotlout said laughing. "Nightmare, send him packing!"

The red beyblade bucked forward knocking Fury back. It landed and bounced a few times before it quickly began moving again. "Okay, we've seen what it can do. Can I give up now?" Hiccup asked.

Snotlout glared at him. "No! You're barely even putting up a fight! I have to have at least a little bit of a work out! If you don't start trying, I'll just smash this thing to bits! Nightmare, destroy!" He ordered. The beyblade began rushing after Fury, but the ladder was quick, and managed to stay ahead of it. "Stop running and fight me like a man, you wimp!"

Hiccup was in no rush to try and take Snotlout head on. He'd seen how strong Nightmare's attacks were, and while he knew his was an attack type, he just wasn't sure if it could keep up with that sheer amount of power. Fury kept moving ahead of Nightmare, and Snotlout was beginning to get irritated. "Nightmare, take him down!"

Nightmare suddenly sped up and rushed towards Fury, knocking it into the air. Hiccup looked up as it tumbled sped towards the ground. On one hand, if it crashed down and spun out, the battle would be over. On the other hand, it might fall down and break. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief when it turn at the last second and managed to land right side up.

The moment of relief was short lived, because Nightmare was once again on it like white on rice. It continuously attacked Fury with a fierce onslaught. "Man, this isn't any different than the normal battles. It's just lasting longer." Ruffnut said bored.

"Yeah, just hurry up and finish him Snotlout!" Tuffnut called. Fishlegs looked worried. If this kept up Snotlout was going to break Fury apart, and he'd never get to collect any data on it. Astrid was barely even paying attention.

Snotlout gritted his teeth. It wasn't like he expected Hiccup to actually give him a challenge, but he wasn't even putting up a fight. "What a waste. Aunt Valka shouldn't even have bothered sending that piece of crap back to you." He spat. "Should be glad she can't see you now."

Hiccup grew wide eyed at that. His mother. What would she think of him right now? He wasn't good at beyblading, he wasn't good at a lot of things, but she had always encouraged him to do his best no matter what he did. If she saw him just rolling over and giving up right now, especially after she'd sent this beyblade back to him, she'd be so disappointed.

He sighed. "Thanks a lot, now I can't just roll over and give up. Fury, attack back!" He shouted. The beyblade quickly dodged Nightmare's next attack, and then rammed into it. It began pushing Nightmare back. The other all looked surprised, even Astrid seemed to be paying closer attention now.

"Whoa, he's actually pushing it back." Tuffnut said.

Snotlout smiled. "Now that's what I'm talking about! I can at least get warm up out of this!" He said as Nightmare suddenly began pushing back. The two blades were at a standstill, but eventually Nightmare slowly began pushing Fury back. Hiccup narrowed his eyes. He clearly wasn't going to win in a head to head battle. He needed a plan.

Fury suddenly backed off and circled around, attacking Nightmare from behind. "Trying to use speed make up for power huh? Nice try, but that ain't gonna work on me!" Nightmare quickly moved out of the way and then rushed towards Fury. The two locked up once again, but Nightmare still had the power advantage.

Hiccup tried to think. Snotlout was obviously much more experienced than he did. He was used to dealing with faster opponents, so just trying to outpace wasn't going to cut it. And he didn't have the power to keep up with him, so what was he supposed to do? A thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Fury, move!" He shouted.

Fury zipped back and began rushing all over the roof. The others backed up as he just rushed off in random directions, turning and curving on a dime. "What the heck are you doing?" Snotlout asked with a hint of amusement.

Hiccup ignored him. "Keep moving…" He muttered. Fury kept on zipping around until it had become pretty much a blur. The others could barely even keep up with it. "That's it, now!"

Fury suddenly vanished. "What the-?!" Snotlout looked around trying to find it. "Where the heck did it go?!" He asked looking towards Hiccup.

"It just vanished." Fishlegs said stunned.

Suddenly Fury reappeared. It smashed again Nightmare knocking it back before vanishing once more. "The heck was that?!" Snotlout asked in disbelief.

"It's moving." Astrid said. The others all turned towards her. "It's moving as a super high speed we just can't see. Normally a blade wouldn't be able to make turns or curves at that speed…"

Fishlegs gasped in realization. "The rubber performance tip! It's helping it move around at high speed without slowing down! Hiccup can just wail away at Nightmare without having to worry about being caught!" Fishlegs said.

"So wait, Hiccup could actually win?" Tuffnut asked.

Snotlout growled as Fury kept appearing, delivering an attack, and then vanishing once more. Nightmare kept trying to go after it, but it was much too quick. Hiccup was growing a small smirk on his face. This was actually… pretty fun. Watching Fury zip around delivering attacks and then vanishing was almost like watching lighting and death itself.

"Quite hiding you coward! Face me straight up like a man!" Snotlout shouted. Hiccup didn't answer him. He just kept on with his strategy. At this rate he might actually win for once. "Ah! I've had enough of this! If you want to keep playing these dumb little tricks, then I'm not going to hold back anymore! Nightmare, special attack!"

The other all looked shocked. Snotlout was really going to break out his special attack, here?! They all scrambled back as Nightmare suddenly began glowing. Hiccup looked at the sight confused. What was happening, why had the others treated. "Inferno Armor!" Snotlout yelled.

Nightmare began glowing even brighter, and suddenly fire began appearing around it. Fury stopped fight before it made contact. "What in the-?!"

"You're not safe yet!" Snotlout shouted. Nightmare suddenly shot out a wave of fire all around itself, and Hiccup jumped back to avoid being burned. He and everyone else covered their eyes as the dome of fire kept expanding. Eventually it dispersed, and everyone looked over to see Nightmare still spinning, and Fury on the ground motionless. "I win!" Snotlout said smirking.

Hiccup sat there, and kept staring in disbelief. Fire? The beyblade had shot out actual fire? What in the world had he just seen! "I… yeah…"

The twins were the first to emerge from behind their cover. "What the heck Snotlout! You know you're special move is dangerous as crap! Outside of a stadium you could end up burning the whole place down!" Ruffnut shouted. "On second thought, it might not be so bad if you burned the school down."

Astrid came out looking furious. "Not while we're in it!" She snapped.

Tuffnut chuckled. "Still, I can't believe you ended up using it again Hiccup of all people. You must have been pretty miffed to resort to that, or pretty desperate." He quipped.

Snotlout growled. "I was NOT desperate! I just underestimated the little twerp!" He said before turning to Hiccup. "And don't let the fact that you actually made me try go to your head! It was just that stupid bey that made you last so long! You're as weak as you ever were! C'mon guys!"

With that he turned and began walking off. The twins followed after him snickering, while Fishlegs went after him complaining about how he wanted to see more of what Fury could do. The only one who had stayed behind was Astrid. She walked over and then picked up Fury before walking over to him. She held it out to him.

Hiccup was surprised that she had bothered staying behind, and even more surprised by the suddenly act of kindness. "Thanks." He said taking it from her.

"You put up a good fight. It's rare that Snotlout gets ticked off enough to use his Inferno Armor." She said before offering her hand to him. He looked at her hesitantly before taking it. With one strong pulled, she yanked him up to his feet. "Why were you so nervous about battling with skills like that?"

Hiccup blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Skills? Me? No way, it was just because of Night Fury. I wouldn't even have lasted a minute if this thing wasn't so strong."

"A strong beyblade can't do anything unless it's in the hands of a skilled blader. None of us ever would have thought of moving around like that to sneak around Nightmare's power." Astrid said bluntly. "You're a clever strategist, and with a little more experience I'm sure you'd have managed to beat Snotlout."

Him? Defeating Snotlout? That didn't seem possible. "Yeah well… I've never really had the chance to battle with anyone besides Snotlout. And you know how he is, so…"

Astrid stared at him for a few second. "Practice with me." She said suddenly. "We can battle together and you can get some more experience. Then the next time you battle against Snotlout, you may actually have a shot at beating him."

"You want me to practice with you?"

She nodded. "I've been practicing with the others for a while now, it'd be nice to have a change of pace. And I could give you a few pointers that could help you get better. You're launching form could definitely use some work."

He tried to keep the red from his cheeks, but he was sure he was failing. This wasn't exactly a date, but it was the closest he'd ever gotten to one. "O-okay, sure. Yeah, that'd be cool."

Astrid pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something down on it. She then handed it to him. "Meet me at this address tomorrow morning around seven." She ordered.

"Wha… like seven AM?" He asked.

"Yes, why? Is that a problem?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

"Nope, no. No problem at all. I'll be there." Hiccup said.

She turned and began walking off. "Good."

Hiccup watched as he walked off. He stared down at Fury. This little thing had not only given him a chance to tick off Snotlout, but had gotten him some alone time with the girl of his dreams. Maybe Beyblade wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

**A/N: Aright! A beyblade and HTTYD crossover! I was kind of surprised I didn't see one before. I don't know why, but I just assumed that there would be at least one. Not sure why. **

**Anyway, there will be other crossovers eventually. Frozen, Tangled, Brave, BH6, Incredibles, Meet The Robinsons, Wreck-It Ralph, Kung Fu Panda, Rise of the guardians, and any others I can think off I'll try to fit in there. But for the first couple of chapters will focus on HTTYD characters, just to help develop the story a bit. **

**The beyblades for the HTTYD characters are based of their dragons. Hiccup has the Night Fury, Snotlout had the Monstrous Nightmare, etc.. When other characters start appearing, I'll get a bit more creative. **

**Also, just curious. Do you guys even care if I describe the beyblades or not? I mean I'm going to give a basic description of their appearance, but do you really need to know the parts of each one, or should I just leave that up to your imagination? **

**Read and Review!**


	2. Training Day

Hiccup didn't need to be woken up today. It was one of the few times he'd woken up before his father. He quietly got dressed, made himself some breakfast, and left a note for his father. Toothless followed him out as he made his way to the address that Astrid had written down for him. "Man, I can't believe I got a date with Astrid Hofferson! Can you believe it buddy?" He asked looking down towards Toothless.

The dog barked and wagged his tail happily. It was good to see his owner in such good spirits. "Well, I guess I can't technically call it a date. We're just practicing is all. It's not like we're going to be doing any romantic stuff… but it is just me and her, so could I count that as a date?" He asked rubbing his chin. "Wish mom was here, she could know how to handle this."

His mother would probably be proud of him right now. He was actually socializing, spending time with a girl, and beyblading. Things he'd never thought he would be doing in a million years. He looked down at his pocket where he kept Fury. If she hadn't sent him this, none of this would be happening. He would have to make a mental note to send her a thank you letter.

After a few minutes of walking, which shamefully tired him out, he reached the address. The place was a moderately sized building with the words Bey-Park in big letters hanging over the door. Hiccup looked up amazed. Was this where Astrid lived? How come he had never seen or heard of this place before? He walked up to the front doors, which slid open for him. "Fancy." He muttered.

He entered inside and saw a number of bey-stadiums. This must have been where all the kids came to beyblade after school. He always heard them talking about a park, but he thought that they were talking about a literal park. "I'm sorry, but we're closed today." He looked up and then saw a middle aged man sitting at a counter not far away.

Behind the counter, sitting on shelves, were a number of beyblades that he assumed were on sale. There were also a couple of opened ones on the counter that seemed to be models. "Uh, closed? But I was looking for someone I was supposed to meet here. Her name is Astrid. Astrid Hofferson."

The men narrowed his eyes at him. "Astrid Hofferson you say?" He asked before making his way around the counter. Hiccup felt his heart drop to his stomach. Whoever this person was, he clearly knew who Astrid was, and he clearly didn't seem happy with the fact that Hiccup knew her as well. "And what, pray tell, would you need from my dear niece?"

"Oh dear lord." He said looking up at the intimidating figure before him. Life could be so funny couldn't it? He was so happy about spending time with Astrid this morning, and now he was probably going to die at the hands of her terrifying uncle.

"Leave him along Uncle Finn." They both looked towards the door and spotted Astrid walking inside. "He's with me. We're here to get some practice battles in."

Finn looked from his niece over to Hiccup. "Really? Him? I've seen toddlers who look more like battlers than this scrawny little fishbone." He said lifting one of Hiccup's arm.

Hiccup whistled. "Wow, I've heard a lot of hurtful things said about me over the years, but that one is definitely top five." He said half seriously. He'd been too use to insults to really be deeply affected by them anymore, so he'd started listing them instead.

Astrid apparently ignored both comments. "He's got a really powerful bey, and is a good strategist. He even gave Snotlout a run for his money, and I'm hoping with enough practice he'll actually be able to knock that loudmouth of his pedestal." She explained.

Hiccup wasn't sure whether or not he should be glad or upset right now. He felt like he was kind of being used. Just a tool for her to take down Snotlout. But then again she honestly thought he had a chance at beating Snotlout, and was trying to help him. And that meant he would get to spend time with her too. So he supposed it evened out.

Finn looked over Hiccup. "I'm sorry, I just can't see this one putting up a fight against Snotlout. I mean, don't get me wrong, that Jorgenson boy needs to be knocked down a couple pegs, but if you're putting your faith in this one, I think you're going to be disappointed."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. He was used to be insulted, but this was taking it a little far. Most people at least had the decency to keep most of their thoughts about him to their selves, but this guy didn't seem even the slightest bit hesitant on telling him how little he thought of him.

"Uncle Finn, I'm telling you this kid has potential. Hiccup, show him Night Fury." She said nudging him. Hiccup pulled out Fury and held it up towards Finn. "Never seen anything like it before right? It's like some unknown top secret model or something."

Finn bent slightly to get a better look at it. "Hmm… this is the most finely crafted bey I've ever seen. Where did you get your hands on this boy?" He asked.

"My mother sent it to me." Hiccup said.

"Your mother?" Finn said raising an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, Hiccup… Hiccup… I know that name somewhere. What's your last name?"

"Haddock." He answered.

A look of shock passed Finn's face. He narrowed his eyes at him. "So you're Stoick and Valka's boy are you? Well, now it seems slightly more believable I suppose." He said before turning around and heading back to the counter. "Feel free to use the stadiums all you want. I've closed the shop today to restock, so you got the place to yourselves."

Hiccup was curious. What did his parents have to do with any of this? Sure they were well known in town, his dad being the chief of police and all, but that had nothing to do with him being good at blading… did it? He thought about asking him, but he was tired of talking with the rather crude old man. Maybe he would ask later.

For now he would enjoy his alone time with Astrid. "Oh, and I very much doubt that you're her type, but if you try anything with my dear niece, I'll skin you like a rabbit." Finn said.

Hiccup gulped while Astrid groaned. "You don't have to threaten every boy I come in here with Uncle Finn, I can take care of myself you know." She said blushing slightly. Her uncle simply shrugged before going into the back. The two teens merely stood there for a moment, but Astrid cleared her throat. "Okay, let's get started."

"We going to use one of these stadiums?" He asked looking towards one a few feet from them. There were a bunch of them spread out in the room.

She scoffed. "Are you kidding? Those stadiums are for the little kids that stop by here. We're not using those things." She said before walking off towards the next room. Hiccup followed after her. When they entered into the next room, his jaw dropped. There were much less stadiums, only about six in all. But they were all much bigger than the ones in the front.

"Odin's beard…"

Astrid smiled. "Pretty cool right. These are official WBBA league stadiums they use for tournaments. Of course in their bigger city wide tournaments they usually come up with some crazy weird stadium, but whenever we have our little local tournament, we use these."

Hiccup shook his head. "We have local tournaments? Beyblade has a league?"

She sighed. "Seriously, how much in the dark are you? The WBBA is the World Beyblade Battle Association. They fund little shops like these and run all the tournaments around the world. We've only had a couple here, and Snotlout has won pretty much all of them. I think he's trying to get noticed since there's rumors that a global tournament is in the works."

"Wait, global? Like worldwide? People take Beyblade that seriously?"

She shook her head. "You really have been out of the loop haven't you? How could you not even hear about any of this? Don't you own a TV, this stuff is all over the news." Hiccup just shrugged. He didn't watch TV much, and he wasn't really into social networks. "Whatever, let's just get started. First things first, your launching position."

"My launching position?" Hiccup said. She had mentioned it yesterday, but he'd thought she was just being dramatic. "Is launching really all that important?"

"Of course it is. A proper launch could be the deciding factor in a battle." She said poking his forehead. "For instance, you have an attack type bey, which are known for being low on stamina. If your launch is sloppy, it could end up cutting your stamina down even more."

"Huh, really? I had no idea. So how should I launch then?"

Astrid stepped back. "Pose like you're about to launch your bey." She ordered. Hiccup did as told, doing his best imitation of launching his bey. Astrid watched him with her hand on her chin. "Hmm… that's actually better than yesterday, but you still need to make a few adjustments." She said walking behind him.

She felt her chin on his shoulder and her hand grabbing his own. "Hold your arms up a little higher." She said raising his hands. She then scooted his feet over slightly. "And widen your stance a bit too." Hiccup felt his cheeks warming up. He had never had skin to skin contact with a girl before. "Are you sick?"

"What?"

"Your face is warm. Are you sick?"

He chuckled nervously. "No, no, I'm fine. It's just a little hot in here is all." He lied.

Astrid looked at him skeptically, but didn't seem to question it. "Feels fine to me, but whatever. Let's get started." She said as she headed over to the other side of the stadium. "We're going to have a few practice battles to wet your feet."

"What? We're just jumping straight into battle? No advice or tips or anything?"

"Learning to get better at blading is like learning to swim. You just have to jump right in and learn by instinct." She said smirking. Hiccup wanted to tell her that that was NOT how you were supposed to learn how to swim, but felt like it'd be a waste. "I think the reason you managed to do so well against Snotlout is because you've battled him so many times before."

Hiccup frowned. "Not by choice mind you."

"Anyway, you've probably battled him more than any of us, and you're familiar with his style and most of his attacks. But let's see how you do against a new opponent." She said before taking out a blue and yellow beyblade from her pocket. "Say hello to my Deadly Nadder."

Hiccup looked over the beyblade. It had a picture of a reptile with multiple horns on its head on the face bolt, a blue energy ring, a Poison fusion wheel, a WA130 spin track, and an Eternal Sharp performance tip. "Monstrous Nightmare is a balance type, which combines properties of attack, defense, and stamina. But my Nadder is an attack type like your Fury." She said placing it on her launcher. "Get ready, this won't be the same as facing Snotlout."

He pulled out Fury and placed it on his launcher. "Go easy on me, I'm still new to this you know." He said. He could tell by the look in her eyes that his words meant nothing to her.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it rip!"

They yelled both shooting their blades off. They landed on opposites sides of the stadium and began circling around it. Hiccup wasn't sure how to approach this time. It was like Astrid had said, this wasn't going to be the same as facing Snotlout. He couldn't jut rush in without thinking things through first. "Nadder, go!"

Hiccup grew wide eyed as Nadder sped across the stadium headed towards Fury. Apparently he and Astrid had two totally different styles of battle, because she hadn't hesitated to go on the offense. "Fury, dodge it!" Fury moved out of the way just barely avoiding Nadder's attack. It was much faster than Nightmare. He would have to be more careful dodging her attacks.

Astrid smirked. "I get what you're trying to do. Trying to hang back and feel me out so you can come up with a strategy." She said. "It's a clever tactic, but with an attack type hanging back will only cost you more precious stamina!"

Nadder cut across part of the stadium and cut off Fury, slamming into it. "Staying back and observing is a strategy more suited to defense or stamina types! When it comes to beys like ours, the best way to test the waters is to just jump right in!" She shouted. "Nadder!"

Hiccup gasped as Nadder began pushing Fury towards the edge of the stadium, trying to push it out. "I don't plan on going out that easily! Fury, push back now!" Fury began pushing back, and the two beys were simply locked up and circling around the stadium.

"Not bad. But I don't think you'll be able to keep that up for long." She said smiling. Hiccup noticed that Fury was slowly starting to wobble. He grew wide eyed when he saw sparks starting to fly, and Fury was starting to be pushed back once more. "My poison fusion wheel grinds away at any bey that dares to lock horns with it! Going toe to toe with me is suicide!"

Hiccup frowned and Fury quickly backed away from Nadder. He needed to get some distance, to find some room to think. "You're not going to get away!" Nadder quickly cut Fury off once again and slammed into it. Hiccup looked panicked. "In a real battle, your opponent isn't going to back off to give you time to think! You have to react on the spot!"

"Crap, crap, crap! Fury, sped up!" He had to find a way to get on the offense, or to get her to back off at least. Fury began zipping around, but Nadder quickly went after it and struck it, sending it bouncing a few feet. "What?"

"You're moves are too predictable." Astrid said crossing her arms. He was panicking, and when people panicked, they started to become readable. "Let's end this Nadder, take him out!"

Nadder sped up and began swaying from side to side. In one swift and powerful motion, it slammed into Fury sending it flying out of the stadium. It landed next to Hiccup who stared shocked. He'd been completely shut down. He never even stood a chance.

Nadder circled around a few more times before zipping out of the stadium towards Astrid. She caught it smirked. "Well, that was fun." She said tossing her beyblade up and down. She hadn't had a battle against another attack type in a long time. It was nice to fight someone who was as fast, if not faster than her.

Hiccup bent down and picked up Fury. "Fun for you maybe. I got totally thrashed. I thought we were just practicing. You pretty much turned me into a punching bag."

"I told you, the best experience is going through the real thing. You panicked back there because you didn't know how to react to someone who's so different from what you're usually dealing with. You're too inexperienced." She explained. "If you want to get experience, then you need to battle. Like really battle. Me holding back won't help you any."

He could see her reasoning he supposed. Snotlout had held back against him last time. He'd even given him the first attack. It was very unlikely that was going to happen again. "Guess you're right." He said sighing.

"Of course I'm right." She said happily. "Now get ready, we're going to go again."

"What? But we just battled?"

"Experience, experience, experience." She said wagging her finger at him.

He scowled. "Alright."

* * *

Hiccup laid on the ground trying to catch his breath. He had no idea that battling could be this tiring. He always thought it was just watching two spinning tops smashing into each other. He'd never realized that you had to put actual effort into these things. Toothless stood next to him licking his face, like he was trying to rejuvenate him.

Astrid stood over him with a smirk on her face. "You really need to exercise more Haddock, you're stamina is just pitiful." She said before holding out a bottle of water to him.

He gladly took it before opening it up and downing half of it. Once he finished he gave a refreshed breath of air. "Oh, water never tasted so good." He said before turning towards the blonde who had taken a seat beside him. "Anyway, I probably wouldn't be so tired if you weren't putting me through the ringer all day. Seriously, I thought I would have won at least one match by now."

"It's your second day of battling Hiccup. And I don't like to brag, but I've won my fair share of local tournaments, so I'd like to think of myself as a seasoned blader. You shouldn't expect to beat someone who's at my level of skill."

"You're awfully modest too." He said chuckling.

She gave him a light punch on the arm. "Shut up." She said giggling. "Anyway, you should be proud. You've improved a lot in just one day Hiccup. You're thinking and reacting on the fly now. I barely won those last couple of battles."

"Still not enough to beat Snotlout though, right?"

Astrid looked slightly surprised. Was he actually planning on beating his cousin now? He seemed to sure he couldn't earlier. "No. Not yet anyway." She muttered. She looked down at her feet. "You know Hiccup, I didn't drag you here just to train you to beat Snotlout."

Hiccup raised his eyebrow. "Really? Because when you were talking to your uncle earlier, that sure sounded like the plan." He hoped he didn't sound whiney right now. He wasn't trying to be whiney, just honest.

"Well, I do want you to beat Snotlout. But I also just wanted to… I don't know, hang out." She said wrapping her arms around her knees.

Hiccup scoffed. "With me? Why? You have all the others to hang out with. You couldn't have been all that lonely." He said curiously.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I don't really hang out with them much outside of school. I mean I hang out with Ruff, cause she's my best friend. But other than her, I don't really know the others all that well. When we're not beyblading and well… picking on you..." She said with a bit of guilt in her voice. "...we don't really hang out all that much."

"Really? I thought all of you were tight knit."

She shook her head. "Snotlout goes off to who knows where, not that I'd want to hang out with him outside of school. He'd kind of a jerk. Fishlegs and I don't really have enough in common to hang out. Tuff is… uh. Ruff if the only one I really hang out with outside of school."

Hiccup whistled. "Man, I always assumed you had a bunch of friends. You're like the most popular and beautiful girl in school." Astrid stared at him wide eyed. Hiccup wasn't sure what she was gawking at him for until he'd realized what he said. "Oh! Wait, what I meant to say-"

She punched his arm causing him to groan in pain. That was his launching arm. "Don't… don't worry about it. Slip of the tongue." She said looking down to hide her blushing face.

He rubbed his arm and looked off in the opposite direction. "Right, slip of the tongue…" He muttered. He was glad her uncle wasn't around. He was sure he wouldn't have gotten off so easily had the older man been here.

"Today was fun." Astrid said. "We should hang out some other time. You know, to practice some more… or to just, hang out or whatever."

Hiccup blushed. "Really?" He asked a bit more eagerly than he'd meant to. Toothless suddenly licked the side of his face, leaving drool all over his cheek and part of his hair. "Aw, c'mon boy!" He wiping his face with his sleeve. Astrid laughed, and he stared at her for a moment before laughing along with her.

The door suddenly opened and Finn entered the room. The two teens didn't seem to notice him. He watched as the two laughed together. He thought about cutting in and making a threat towards Hiccup, not that he actually thought the boy had a shot with his niece, but decided against it. It had been a long time since he'd seen her laugh like this.

Even when she was with that other girl, she rarely did more than crack a smile. He didn't want to spoil her fun. The sight before him almost reminded him of his younger days with the others. With Valka's boy getting into beyblading, maybe they would get to follow the footsteps of their parents and have some similar experiences. The kids today did remind him of himself and the others. Maybe this generation would actually be the one to make it this time.

* * *

A loud crash could be heard in an old abandoned building. There was a large hole in the wall with scorch marks around it, and part of it was crumbling. Snotlout stood near the door, with Nightmare spinning around him. Nightmare was on fire, and there were scorch marks all over the room. Snotlout rarely trained. He usually didn't need to.

There was nobody in Berk stronger than he was. Astrid came close, but not matter how hard she tried he'd always been able to best her with his power. There was nobody who could match him and his Nightmare when it came to battle. So why waste time improving himself when he was already the best thing around.

Soon he'd stand alongside the best in the world.

But he couldn't shake that feeling from yesterday. That feeling that he'd gotten when he went up against Hiccup. When he'd been pushed back by him. When he'd almost lost…

"…_or desperate…"_ Tuffnut's voice rung in his head.

He balled his fist up and growled. Him losing? To Hiccup? No! Never! He'd sooner give up his leg than take a lost to that wimp! Come school on Monday he was going to put that little punk back in his place! He was going to remind them all who the top dog was around Berk.

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back! I got nine reviews in one day. I figured I'd be lucky if I got like three or four. Guess I underestimated the love of Beyblade. I'm trying to make this story more like the original series, but there will be some aspects of the metal series involved as well.(I think some people were way to hard on that series.)  
**

** I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. I had to include at least one where Hiccup got the basics of blading down, and I thought this would also be a good chance for him to get closer to Astrid. I hope this wasn't too romance heavy, I wanted to have a few little moments between them, but keep the focus on beyblade.  
**

**Did you guys like Astrid's bey? I thought about giving her a stamina type, but when I thought of the Nadder, it being attack type just kept popping into my head, so I went with that. The next chapter will be Hiccup and Snotlout's rematch. I'm debating whether I should have bit beast be an actual thing. I feel like they may complicate the battle scenes a bit. **

**Even in the show the effect bit beast had on battle was always confusing to me. Were the blades just hitting each other and the beast mirroring their battle? If so why were they able to physically attack people and objects? If I do include them it'll probably be more like it is in metal fight, where their just representations of what the blades themselves are doing. **

**Tell me what you guys thing in the reviews. **


	3. The Rematch

**A/N: Chapters a bit longer than usual, so brace up**

* * *

Stoick looked across the table with a strange expression. He was trying to figure out what exactly had changed in the past couple of days. There was nothing in particular that seemed different around town. No news of any real interest. Though what he defined as interesting and what his son did were more often than not very different things. But still, he couldn't think anything that would have peaked his son's interest going on lately.

So why was Hiccup acting so chipper. He'd been like this ever since he came back from… whatever it was he'd been doing on Saturday morning. When he asked him what he'd been up do, he just said he was hanging out with a friend. Stoick was going to ask him when he started making friends, but actually managed to realize how terrible that would have sounded out loud and bit his tongue.

Hiccup was eating from a bowl of cereal with a smile on his face. Stoick hadn't had to urge him out of bed, and he didn't even whine to stay home from school today. What the heck could have happened to change his attitude like this in just two days? "You seem awfully… chipper, as of late son. Something going on I should know about?"

Hiccup looked at his father and shrugged. "Nothing in particular." He said eating another spoonful of cereal. His father had been trying to take more of an interest in his activities lately, but neither of them were really social types, and sometimes they missed the social cues that were usually obvious between parents and children.

"Are you sure? Nothing has been happening lately? Because you seem, I don't know, excited about going to school today. Just last week you were arguing about how you didn't need to bother going to school. What happened exactly?"

The young Haddock tilted his head. "What happened? Hmm, well… I've been beyblading, so I guess that's new." He said. Stoick grew a smirk on his face. He'd known his son had been avoiding the sport because of his cousin, but he hadn't said anything about it.

He may have been a bit oblivious when it came to some things, but he knew when he son was getting bullied. The only reason he hadn't said anything was because he'd wanted Hiccup to at least learn to stand up for himself before intervening. It seemed like he was finally doing just that. "Beyblading eh? I thought you had no interest in it?"

"Yeah well, after I got Night Fury from mom, the others at school saw it and got excited. I battled against Snotlout. Lost, but it was pretty fun I guess." He said. "Been practicing at the Bey Park with Astrid. She thinks I actually have a chance to beat Snotlout. I'm not so sure about that. But it's been pretty cool hanging out with her."

Stoick could barely contain his joy. "So you're been beyblading and spending time with the Hofferson girl as well. You're certainly starting to break out of your shell son." He said with a chuckle. "Do me a favor and take a picture of her so I can send it back to your mother. She'll want to get a gab at anyone dating her son." He joked.

Hiccup blushed. He knew he dad was just joking, but it was still embarrassing. "Dad, we're not like that. We're just hanging out. Practicing and stuff like that." He said before taking a drink from the leftover milk in his bowl. He set it back down and let out a small burp. "By the way, I'm probably going to getting home a little later. We're going to hit up the Bey Park after school."

Stoick smiled mischievously. "Of course you are. Toothless, keep an eye on our boy while he's on his little play date. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid and get himself killed by Finn." He said getting up to leave. Toothless barked in agreement and followed Stoick to the door. "Have a good day son. I'm… I'm proud, that you're starting to get out of the house more."

Hiccup snickered. "You make me sound like a shut in." He quipped. He then looked towards the door where his dad was still smiling. "Thanks dad." Stoick nodded and then left, closing the door behind him. "Well Toothless, we better get going too." He grabbed his backpack and got up and made his way to the door.

He got his bike from the front yard and started riding off. Toothless easily kept up with him. The puppy was surprisingly quick on his feet. Hiccup thought back to the past two days. He and Astrid had really seemed to hit it off. They talked about all types of stuff. School, family life, their hobbies. It was funny, they didn't seem to have too many things in common, but they still enjoyed each other's company.

But he was still a bit worried about how today would play out. It was one thing when they were hanging out alone, but would she want them socializing at school, in front of other people. She had an image to maintain after all. What if she didn't want to sully it by talking to him in public? He couldn't really blame her… but it would still hurt.

He shook his head. What was he thinking? Astrid didn't care about what other people thought. She wouldn't care about talking with him in public. Knowing her if anyone questioned it then she'd pop them in the jaw. "Yeah, he to nothing to worry about."

As he made his way into class, he saw Astrid sitting in her usual seat. Around her was Ruffnut, her brother, and Fishlegs. They looked like they were talking about something important. Snotlout was oddly enough absent from the group. That was definitely strange seeing as he seemed to be their de facto leader. But it would make it easy to approach Astrid he supposed.

He simply stood there for a moment, debating whether or not he should walk over there. It looked like they were having a conversation about something. Wouldn't it be rude to just waltz over there and interrupt them? Astrid who had looked up from the conversation spotted him and gave him a strange look. She got up and started walking towards him.

That worried him. Was he wrong? Was she about to tell him to buzz off? To not talk to her in front of the others? He braced himself as she stood in front of him. "You're finally here, good." She said grabbing his wrist. Before he could even ask what was going on, she pulled him over towards the window. "Did you see it yet?" She asked.

Hiccup didn't even bother trying to free his wrist. She was too strong for him. "No, I didn't see it. I don't even know what it is. What's going on?" He asked confused. She stopped in front of the window and pointed out. "I don't see what the big deal is, it's just… holy crap." Outside in the school yard there was an image of Fury's face bolt scorched into the ground.

It looked like somebody had drew it with a flame thrower. "Well, that's… flattering?" He asked looking towards his blonde friend. "Did you do that?"

Astrid grew wide eyed. "What? No I didn't do that! Snotlout obviously did it! He's challenging you to a battle Hiccup! He wants to go against you at the Bey-Park after school!"

Hiccup paled. "W-what?! Why?!" His cousin had already beaten him! And even though he was planning on going against him again, he hadn't planned on doing it so soon! He wasn't ready to go up against Snotlout again, he couldn't even beat Astrid yet! "Oh man, I'm done for! He's going to demolish me!"

Astrid suddenly grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Hiccup! Calm down! Snotlout is NOT going to demolish you! You've been practicing and getting better over the past two days!"

He calmed down a little. "Well, yeah but… I'm still not a match for him. Do you see that down there? He scorched that thing into the ground! If he can do that, think about what he's going to do to Fury." He said gripping the bey worriedly.

"Hiccup, stop panicking. Calm down and think about this. You almost beat him last time, you've gotten better. You're more experienced, and you can think on your feet in battle now. You at the very least stand a chance against him. So stop doubting yourself." Astrid said. "And if it'll make you feel better, we can go down to the Bey-Park and get a little more practice in."

Hiccup took a deep breath and then nodded. "Yeah, yeah, a little more practice would probably calm my nerves… but we have school to go to…"

"No ye don't." Gobber said from his desk. "You have no work left, and all your grades were sent in yesterday. Ye could skip class for all I care. In fact, class is dismissed for the rest of the year, get out of here!" He said waving them off. The kids all stood there for a moment before suddenly darting out of the room. If they didn't have to stay here, then they wouldn't.

Gobber sat back in his chair and yawned. He knew he wouldn't get in trouble for letting them go. The principal wouldn't really care. He wasn't even sure if the Principal was still here. Besides, if they had a chance of putting Snotlout in his place, then who was he to stand in their way. "Good luck Hiccup." He said before nodding off the sleep.

* * *

Snotlout leaned against a tree near his house and watched as Nightmare moved around, smashing into any nearby rocks. It was leaving nothing but ruble behind in its path. He smirked to himself. He hadn't realized it, but he'd been rusty. Days of nothing but battling his friends, who he was significantly stronger than, had gotten him comfortable.

But now that he'd been fired up again, he'd gotten his edge back. His Nightmare was back at full power again, and so was he. In fact, he felt even stronger than he did before. "Yo Snotlout!"

He turned his head over and saw the twins and Fishlegs approaching. "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" He asked.

"Class got canceled." Fishlegs said. "Anyway, forget about that! You're challenging Hiccup to a battle later today? Why? Didn't you already beat him?"

"Yeah. What's the point of going after somebody you already took down?" Ruff said.

Snotlout balled his fist up. "Of course you mutton heads wouldn't understand. This isn't about just beating him. It's about making sure he knows his place. Last time he actually put up a fight against me. I can't let that slide." He said annoyed.

"But you told him to put up a fight." Fishlegs pointed out.

Snotlout growled. "I wanted him to try, and fail, immediately! I didn't want him to actually be able to struggle! If I have to try against Hiccup of all people…" He narrowed his eyed. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't start thinking he could actually stand up to me."

The others looked at him clearly not getting it. But Snotlout had always worked in his own strange little way, so they didn't question it. "Whatever dude. But you should know that Astrid and Hiccup went down to the Bey-Park to train for the battle."

Snotlout smirked. "Let him train…" Nightmare rushed forward and then leapt towards a tree. It smashed through, taking a large chunk of its trunk. The others all looked at the display of power with shock. "I'm going to smash that stupid Fury of his into pieces…"

Nightmare jumped back to him and he started walking off. The others could feel the heat radiating off his bey as he left. "Hiccup doesn't stand a chance, does he?" Fishlegs asked.

"Nope, he's toast." Ruff said.

"I can't wait to see this." Tuff said smirking.

* * *

"Fury, attack!" Fury zipped across the stadium and smashed into Nadder. Nadder was knocked back, but quickly rushed back towards Fury. The two kept clashing against one another, determined not to be the first to give in. "Come on Fury, you can do this!" Fury started moving faster, and before long it was zipping around Nadder delivering fast and furious attacks.

Astrid could barely keep up with it. "C'mon Nadder, fight back!" She shouted. Nadder moved forward and attacked, but Fury easily dodged. Fury circled around and then slammed into Nadder with a devastating blow. Nadder went flying out of the stadium and landed in front of Astrid. She looked down in shock. "You… you won."

Hiccup couldn't believe it. He'd actually beaten Astrid. Sure he'd come close a few times, and this match could have gone either way. But it was still an accomplishment for him. "I've won my first bey battle." He said.

He heard a small applause and looked to see some of the younger kids of the town clapping for him. They had been watching their past few battles intensely. Astrid walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Yep, you've won your first battle. And soon you're going to win your second." She said.

Hiccup paled slightly. He had gotten so caught up that he'd almost forgotten about Snotlout's challenge. "I… I still can't beat him Astrid." He said sighing.

"Yes you can Hiccup!" She said firmly. "You're much stronger than before. I bet power wise you could go toe to toe with his Nightmare. And you already had the speed advantage. As long as you're careful about avoiding his attack, this battle should be yours."

"What about his Inferno Amour attack?" He asked. Astrid grew wide eyed. She'd totally forgotten about that. This wasn't good. Outside Hiccup might have had a chance to avoid it, but inside a stadium it was going to be impossible to avoid. It was also going to be more powerful. "Even if I could match his power and out speed him, I don't have an answer for that attack."

Astrid gave him a reassuring look. "You can find one. You're the cleverest battler I've ever seen Hiccup. If anyone can find an answer for it, I'm sure it's you." She said smiling.

He smiled back. "Well at least one of us believes I can do it."

"It's about to be none." They both turned around and then saw Snotlout approaching. Hiccup gulped as everyone split apart to make room for his cousin. "Sup cuz. I assume that you got my challenge?" He asked smirking.

Hiccup tried not to let the nervousness he was feeling show. "It was pretty hard to miss. Really flashy, didn't think it was your style, but cool." He quipped.

"Well, I had to be sure that you got the point." Hiccup felt a little embarrassed. He actually didn't get the point. Astrid had to point it out to him. But he wasn't about to tell Snotlout that. Snotlout glanced over towards Astrid. "And I guess you've been coaching him or something? What, you couldn't beat me yourself so you're putting your hopes in this loser."

Astrid glared at him. "We'll see who the loser is when this is all over." Astrid said. "Because even if he doesn't wipe the floor with you, I will!" She said pulling out Nadder. She wasn't about to let anyone accuse her of cowardice.

"Wait your turn. When I'm done with the runt, I'll be glad to break apart that stupid Nadder of yours too." He said chuckling. He didn't need someone who was going to turn on him in his group. If she was going to side with Hiccup, she was going to suffer the same fate as him.

Hiccup glared towards his cousin. "You're not breaking apart her bey or anyone else's, not as long as I can help it." He said pulling out Fury. It was one thing for his cousin to threaten him, but he wasn't going to stand by and let him threaten his friend. "Come on, let's do this."

Snotlout pulled out his Nightmare and began making his way over to the other side of the stadium. "Well, you finally got some fire in you huh? Good. That'll make it even more satisfying when I grind you into the ground."

Hiccup looked around and noticed more people were walking in. "We didn't miss anything did we?" Ruffnut called as they approached. The room was still filling up with kids from all around the neighborhood. Astrid looked around. She expected there to be a crowd, but not this many people. Had word spread that quickly?

"What are they all doing here?" She asked.

Tuffnut snorted. "We invited them of course. You think anybody would want to miss the beat down that's about to happen. No way. This is going to be the battle of the century."

She frowned. "Hiccup is not going to lose."

"If you say so." Tuffnut said shrugging.

Snotlout laughed. "I'm glad I'm going to have an audience! Now everyone's going to know why they shouldn't mess with Snotlout Jorgenson!" He said as he placed Nightmare on his launcher.

Hiccup got Fury ready. "No, everyone's going to see that they can stand up to you." Hiccup said getting into his launching position. "I'm ready! 3!"

"2!" Snotlout shouted.

"1!" Everyone else yelled.

"Let it rip!"

Hiccup and Snotlout launched Nightmare and Fury into the stadium. The two landed, but rather than circle around the stadium, they headed right for each other. Hiccup and Snotlout yelled as their beys clashed, causing sparks to fly through the air. "Look at you, attacking right from the start! Looks like you finally got some guts!" Snotlout said. "Too bad it doesn't mean jack!"

Nightmare bucked forward knocking Fury back. Fury quickly landed and began circling around the stadium. Hiccup looked surprised. He'd pushed him back so easily. He expected him to have the power advantage, but he didn't think it would have changed so much from last time.

"He's done for." Ruff said.

Astrid growled. "It's just started!"

Nightmare began going at Fury. Fury moved out of the way of its attack, circled around, and delivered its own attack from behind. Nightmare however didn't even budge. "You call that puny little shove an attack! Let me show you what a REAL attack is!" Nightmare rushed at Fury and smashed into it, knocking it into the air.

Everyone gasped as Fury went flying through the air, headed for the edge of the stadium. "Oh no!" Astrid said worried. If Fury landed outside the stadium, the battle would be over.

"Well, that was quick." Tuffnut said disappointed. Fury landed right on the edge of the stadium, just barely avoiding a stadium out. "Whoa, he's still in… cool."

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief before refocusing. Snotlout was stronger than before. He wasn't going to be able to match him in power, and regular attacks weren't going to cut it. He had to pull out all the stops if he wanted to win. "Fury, let's step up the pace!"

Fury began moving quicker, shooting off and turning in random directions. Just like in their first battle, it soon built up so much speed it became a blur. Everyone in the room looked impressed. Even the twins and Fishlegs. Fury had managed to pick up speed much faster than before. Astrid was the only one who didn't seem surprised. Their training had paid off.

"You think the same trick is going to work on me twice?" Snotlout asked.

"Nightmare may have the power advantage, but it could never match Fury's speed!" Hiccup said holding his arm out. "Fury, attack!" Fury appeared and attacked Nightmare before disappearing again. It kept this up, attack and retreating at a faster and faster pace.

Astrid smirked. "See, he doesn't have an answer for this. Hiccup can totally win."

"Don't be so sure." Fishlegs said nervously. After what he'd seen from Snotlout earlier, he very much doubted that it was going to be over this easily.

Snotlout smiled. "I told you, that isn't going to work on me again!" He shouted. Fire suddenly came around Nightmare. Fury stopped just before colliding into it. Hiccup looked worried. Was he about to use Inferno Armor again? "Nightmare, now!" Taking advantage of Hiccup's shock, Nightmare moved forward and slammed into Fury, knocking it back again.

It landed, but Nightmare was immediately on it again. It was still on fire as well, and leaving scorch marks all around the stadium as it knocked Fury around like a hacky sack. "It's on fire?! But he's not even using Inferno Armor!" Astrid said.

"I don't know how he did it, but he's gotten even more control over Nightmare's powers. If Fury can't find a way to fight back, it's going to end up getting melted down." Fishlegs said.

Hiccup was clearly panicked. "Fury, get away from him!" He need to distance himself. He may have gotten better about thinking on the fly, but this wasn't a problem he could just immediately come up with an answer for. Nightmare was already powerful, and now he couldn't even touch him without getting melted apart.

"You think I'd let you get away!" Snotlout shouted. Nightmare jumped forward landing in front of Fury. Fury tried to move back, but Nightmare circled around and tackled it. It kept on ramming into it, knocking it all around the stadium. "I'm going to keep on attacking until that piece of junk bey is nothing but a puddle!"

Hiccup bit his lip. What was he supposed to do? Even if he could get away, he probably wouldn't be able to outlast him. Attack types were known for their weak stamina, and with all the attacks he'd taken he was pretty sure he wouldn't last much longer anyway. "C'mon Hiccup, think of something." Astrid muttered.

"He can't think of anything, because there's nothing he can do. Face it, he's done for." Ruffnut said. "But I'll give him credit, he lasted way longer than any of us would have."

Hiccup took a breath calming his nerves. He closed his eyes and began thinking. There had to be something that he could do. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. "I got it!" He said smiling. "Fury, start moving now!" He shouted.

Fury dodged Nightmare's next attack and then rushed off. Nightmare went after it, but again, couldn't quite catch up. "Huh, so you're just going to run away? You know you can't outlast me!" Snotlout shouted angrily.

"I'm not running away, I'm just evening the playing field!" He shouted. Fury made its way to the middle of the stadium and then began moving in a small circle. Everyone looked totally confused. "Get ready to get a taste of your own medicine!" He shouted.

Snotlout glared at him. What was he thinking? He knew just using speed wasn't going to cut it anymore. Did he have something else planned? Suddenly he noticed that there was black dust moving up from the bottom of the stadium. "What the-?!" The black dust shot up into the air, and the battle was totally blocked from everyone's view.

"Soot!" Fishlegs said amazed. "He's using the soot that Nightmare created from his flames as a cover! That's brilliant!"

"Yeah! That's how you do it Hiccup!" Astrid cheered.

Snotlout growled. "Are you kidding me?! Using soot just to hide?! That's not a battling, that's just being a coward! Stop coming up with these stupid tricks and fight me like a man!"

Hiccup glared back at him. "There's more than battling than just power Snotlout! You may just rely on overpowering your opponents, but I have my own way of fighting!"

"Fighting?! How is either of us supposed to fight when we can't see?!"

Hiccup smiled. "I may not be able to see, but I can still hear. I know exactly where your Nightmare is! And unlike Nightmare, Fury doesn't make any noise when he strikes!" They heard a loud crashing sound and a flash of sparks could be seen through the soot.

Snotlout grew wide eyed. Hiccup was right. He could hear his own Nightmare somewhere inside, but he had no clue where Fury was. The only time he heard it was when it seemed to be attacking Nightmare, which was a sitting duck right now. Everyone around looked totally shocked. Hiccup had just gone from barely being in this battle, to totally dominating it.

"He can win! He can actually win!" Fishlegs said.

"I don't believe it!" Ruff said.

"Told you so!" Astrid said lifting her fist. "Keep it up Hiccup!"

Everyone began cheering as the sounds of Fury smashing into Nightmare became more and more frequent. Snotlout gritted his teeth. He was absolutely furious. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a one sided slaughter.

Instead he had to deal with this… whatever this was! This wasn't how a battle was supposed to be! There wasn't supposed to be any cheap tricks! It was just supposed to be them smashing into each other and seeing who was more powerful! "You think you're going to make a fool out of me…" He muttered under his breath.

He looked up, red in the eyes from fury. "You think I'm going to be done in by some cheap trick?! I'm going to stand at the top of the world! I'm not going to lose to some stupid runt who just picked up his beyblade last week!" He shouted. "Nightmare!" There was suddenly a red glow that could be seen through the cloud of soot.

"What's going on?!" Astrid asked. Was he using Inferno Armor now? It didn't seem like it. Sure she knew that Nightmare would grow fire around it before the attack, but it was never this bright before. "Fishlegs, what's happening?!"

Fishlegs looked terrified. "I-I don't know!"

"I'm going to show you what a battle is supposed to be! I'm going to show you what real power is!" Snotlout shouted. "Nightmare, come out and finish this!"

The cloud of soot was suddenly blown away, and they could see Nightmare spinning in the middle of the stadium. A light suddenly shot out of the face bolt, and Hiccup found himself staring at a large red dragon. It roared out and flapped its wing, getting rid of any leftover soot in the stadium. "Holy mother of crap…" Hiccup said stunned.

Snotlout laughed. "Now that Nightmare is at its full power, there isn't anything that you can do! I'm going to completely and utterly obliterate you!" Nightmare started glowing brightly, and fire appeared around it. "Let's see how you like my new special attack, Inferno Explosion!"

Hiccup covered his face, as did everyone else. They could feel the head and power coming off of Nightmare. He had to end this. If Nightmare got this attack off, he was finished. "Fury, quick, attack him before he finishes charging!"

Fury rushed it and slammed against Nightmare, but the red bey didn't budge. Snotlout laughed once more. "Face it! You can't stop this attack! And went it goes off it's going to melt down your bey into scrap pieces! Maybe you can sent them back to your mommy and get a new one!" He laughed.

Astrid looked worried. This was bad. She hadn't expected Snotlout to get this much better in such a short time. Had she known this was going to happen, she never would have encouraged Hiccup to go against him. "C'mon Hiccup, please think of something." She said.

Fury kept on attacking, but he was getting nowhere. Hiccup tried to think of a plan. Inferno Explosion. It seemed like the exact same move as before, just more powerful. But still, in a stadium like this once that dome of fire started spreading, there would be no way to avoid it. And he couldn't hope take all that fire directly… wait, fire… fire!

Hiccup's eyes widened. How had he not thought of this before! "Fury, change of plans!" He yelled. Fury stopped attacking Nightmare and suddenly made its way to the edge of the stadium. It began circling around the edge of the stadium.

"What's he doing?" Fishlegs asked.

"Not sure." Astrid said just as confused.

Hiccup kept staring intently at Fury. If this plan worked, he'd have a huge opening. He just hoped Fury was fast enough to pull it off before Nightmare finished charging. "Faster!" Hiccup shouted. "Keep speeding up!" Fury moved even faster, and then disappeared. Everyone could tell it was still circling around the edge of the stadium. "That's it, keep it up!"

Snotlout snorted. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's pointless! I've already won this battle! Now Nightmare, finish him off! Inferno Explosion!"

Fire shot out from Nightmare in all directions. Everyone backed up as the dome of fire expanded and started covering the entire stadium. "Keep moving Fury!" Hiccup shouted.

Fishlegs covered his eyes. "I can't watch!"

"He's done for!" Tuffnut said looking shocked.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted.

The fire kept on expanding and was just about to reach the edge of the stadium. Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable, when suddenly it seemed to just stop. "What?!" Snotlout said shocked. "What's happening?!" Everyone looked just as stunned as Snotlout was. "Why did it stop?! Nightmare finish it!"

Nightmare glowed even brighter, and everyone felt the heat intensify, but the fire was still not moving any further. "It's no use Snotlout." Hiccup said smiling.

Snotlout glared at him. "What did you do?!"

Fishlegs who had finally uncovered his eyes gasped in realization. "I-I see it now! He wasn't just moving around for no reason! He was creating a vacuum!"

"What?" The twins both asked tilting their heads.

"Hiccup couldn't stop the attack, and he couldn't endure all that fire. So he start moving around the stadium to create a vacuum and suck it up! Fishlegs explained.

The fire was suddenly being pulled upwards. It shot up and smashed through the ceiling of the building. For about a half a minute, the pillar of fire kept shooting upwards. Snotlout looked at the sight in disbelief. How could he have stopped his special attack? That was the most powerful move in his arsenal.

Once the pillar of fire finally vanished, everyone could see Nightmare. It was also being pulled up by the mini tornado, and was floating in midair a few feet from the ground. "T-this can't be happening!" Snotlout said. "How is this happening?!"

"I told you Snotlout, there's more than one way to fight! You can be the most powerful in the world, but if it's all you have to rely on, eventually someone will find a way around it!" Hiccup shouted. "Now let me show you my special move!"

Fury stopped circling around the stadium, and Nightmare began falling towards the ground. Fury moved with incredible speed, heading right for the spot that Nightmare was falling. It's face bolt suddenly began to slow, and Snotlout could see a black scaled dragon with green eyes rushing towards his Nightmare. "Fury Strike!" The dragon let out an ear shrieking roar and sped forward.

Fury glowed even brighter and slammed into Nightmare just as it landed back into the stadium. Nightmare went flying out of the stadium and crashed into the wall behind Snotlout. Snotlout looked back and saw Nightmare imbedded into the wall. It spun for a few more seconds before finally coming to a stop. "I… no, that's impossible… against Hiccup, I…lost?"

Hiccup looked at the sight for a few seconds before growing a look of disbelief. Nightmare had been knocked out of the stadium. That meant… he really had won. He looked down at Fury who was still spinning, albeit a bit wobbly. "I-I did it?"

Everyone suddenly broke out into cheers, causing Hiccup to jump slightly. Astrid ran up and punched him on the arm. "You did it! I can't believe it! You actually pulled it off! Hiccup, that was absolutely amazing!" She practically yelled in his ear.

"I really won just now? Like really? This isn't a dream is it? I'm not going to wake up in my room and find out this whole thing was just made up am I?" He asked.

"No Hiccup! This is reality! You REALLY won!" She said laughing. "Though I think that special move could use a rename. Fury Strike? Really?"

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. "I was thinking on the fly."

Fishlegs and the twins stood back. "I don't believe it. Somebody finally brought down Snotlout. And it was Hiccup of all people. I never thought the guy had it in him." Tuffnut said.

"No kidding." His sister said stunned.

The others who had been watching the battle began swarming around Hiccup. They were asking him all types of questions. How he had pulled off that last move, what type of bey he had, where he had gotten it. As they all swarmed him, Snotlout turned and pulled Nightmare from the wall behind him.

He couldn't believe it. He had lost to Hiccup. He lost to the guy who was considered the worst at everything. He gripped Nightmare tightly and glanced back towards Hiccup. He hadn't been out skilled, he'd been outsmarted. Done in my some cheap tactics. He growled and began heading for the door.

This was NOT over. He wasn't just going to roll over and let him win. His way was the right way, and he was going to prove it. But for now he had other things to worry about. Like how he was going to explain this to him…

Hiccup felt a few people lifting him up into the air. "Three cheers for Hiccup! Hip-hip-"

"Hey! Who put that hole in my ceiling?!" Everyone stopped and turned to see Finn, who was pointing up at the ceiling angrily. "What in the bloody name of Thor's hammer did you kids do?! Who's responsible for this?!" He asked.

There was a moment of silence, and suddenly everyone began running for the door. They dropped Hiccup as they all fled from the furious Finn Hofferson. Astrid was the only one who bothered staying. "OW…" Hiccup said rubbing the back of his head. He then looked up at Finn who was standing over him. "Oh… hey…"

"Did you do this?" He asked angrily.

Hiccup chuckled nervously, but Astrid quickly stepped in front of him. "Yeah, he kind of did. But he did manage to beat Snotlout Uncle Finn." She pointed out with a smile.

Finn looked impressed. "What? Really? Well I'll be darned. I suppose I can't go killing you now. Not after you humbled that hot headed cousin of yours. Nice job lad." He said patting him on the back. Hiccup smiled at the praise. "But you're still going to patch up my roof. Now get to work!" He shouted pointing towards the supply room.

His smile faded and he began walking off. "Well, being the center of attention was nice while it lasted." He said with a sigh.

"You're still going to be the center of tomorrow." Astrid pointed out as she walked up beside him. "And I'll help you patch up the wall. With your coordination you'll end up tearing the place down."

"Thanks." Hiccup said smiling.

Finn watched as the two walked off. So Hiccup had actually managed to Beat Snotlout. That was certainly no easy feat. Maybe the boy had more potential than he'd given him credit for. "This should be interesting."

* * *

Far off in an abandoned building, a figure sat on a couch watching TV. He laughed at a clip of an old man slipping on the ice. "Hah, stupid old geezer." He said chuckling.

Another figure walked into the door way. "Excuse me boss…"

The figure on the couch grumbled. "This better be good news. This is my favorite part of the show, and you're interrupting it." He said with an edge in his voice.

"I-I'm sorry boss. But there's some really troubling news. It's about Snotlout."

"What about him?"

"He lost."

The figure on the couch perked up. "Oh did he now? Well, that certainly is strange news. I didn't think there was anyone in that dump heap of a town strong enough to beat him. He was the biggest frog in that little pond." He said sitting up. "So who got him? Some guy from out of town? Or was is Astrid? I always thought she had potential."

"No boss. It was some kid named Hiccup."

The figure's eyes widened. Hiccup? Hiccup Haddock? As in the same Hiccup Haddock he used to bully whenever he came into town. He began laughing. "Ha! Ha-Ha! I don't believe it! He lost to that loser! What a riot!" He said grabbing his stomach.

"W-what are we going to do about this?"

The figure's laughing slowly died down. "Oh man. First of all we're going to bring Snotlout here and deal with him. Can't have him embarrassing our good name. Then I guess we'll find someone who deal with Hiccup." He said standing up. "Seriously, Hiccup, I can hardly believe this. That just brightened my whole day."

He wiped a tear from his eye and headed out of the room. Now this was worth missing his show. He'd been dying to bring down the hammer of the Berserkers on someone. Maybe this would give him a chance to do so. "Let's hope that this leads to some fun… eh Dogsbreath?"

"Yes Dagur."

* * *

**A/N: Chapter was a big longer than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it. Just like the last chapter I actually bothered to check for spelling errors, so there should be a lot less of them. I'm going to be doing this from now on with all my stories. I hate going back and reading them later and seeing them pop up. Especially when there's so many it's distracting. **

**So, Hiccup defeats Snotlout! But this isn't quite the end of their feud! There is still more to come! And now Dagur and the Bersekers are entering the picture, and they have their sites set on Hiccup! What kind of trouble is he going to get into now? In the next chapter we'll get a little more on Dagur, and see who Hiccup will be going up against next. **

**I thought about starting a tournament right after this battle, but I wanted to give a few more chapters for Hiccup's development. And to set up a big of plot for later. How did you guys think the battle was? I honestly don't know if that's how a vacuum would work with a fire, but I figured I could fudge the science a little. Because this is a world where spinning tops and create tornadoes and fly twenty feet in the air.**

**Tell me what you think in the reviews! **


	4. The Greusome Gronckle

Snotlout made his way towards the old building with a scowl on his face. He didn't know why he had fooled himself into thinking that Dagur wouldn't see. The Berserkers had access to the cameras in the Bey-Park, and there were probably a bunch of kids there who recorded it. Even if they hadn't, word spread fast. As he entered the building, two of the guards standing out front smirked at him. "What are you staring at?" He spat.

"Nothing much." One of them said with a sneer. They kept snickering at him, knowing that he was going to be in for it when he finally got face to face with Dagur. Snotlout bucked at them, causing them to jump, before making his way inside and then up the stairs. He entered inside the room at the top and saw two more figures standing in front of a couch that was facing a TV.

One of them was a guy with short black hair. He was big, bulky, and had scars all over his face. Snotlout knew this one as Dogsbreath, though most people shortened it to DB. He was the only one in this gang Snotlout would really consider tolerable. They would hang out every now and then, and DB even somewhat admired Snotlout. "Snotlout." He said nodding.

He didn't nod back. He was in no mood to beat around the bush. The other figure was a girl with long black hair. She was Heather. A pretty good blader and Dagur's top member when it came to gathering information. "Well look who finally came slinking back in here with their tail between their legs." She said with a smirk.

Unlike DB, he and Heather didn't exactly get along. They were usually always trying to throw each other under the bus. "Don't you have anything better to do Heather? Like go watch a camera and report on some guy sticking gum under a bench."

She chuckled. "Ha-ha, that's cute. Funny, watching a camera is exactly what I was doing when I saw you lose to that gangly excuse for a blader Hiccup." She shot back.

He gritted his teeth and was about to respond, but was cut off. "Hiccup Haddock." They all turned towards the couch as Dagur stood up. He was wearing a smile on his face. "Hiccup Haddock, defeated Snotlout Jorgenson. It's just so strange to say." He said trying to hold back his laughter. "I mean, you got beaten by a bean pole."

Snotlout hung his head. "Dagur, I-"

"I mean if it had been Astrid, then I could see that. Heck, even Fishlegs or the twins, but Hiccup? I mean you lost to the guy who couldn't even launch a bey without tripping over his own two feet. That must be just downright… devastating. And the way he did it too. He just… he demolished you." Dagur said slapping his knee.

Snotlout frowned. "He was using cheap tricks, I could have-"

Dagur frowned. "Cheap tricks?" He said glaring at Snotlout. The other boy shrunk under his gaze. "He used cheap tricks? Did he rig the stadium? Did he sabotage your bey?" He asked walking towards him. "Did he cheat?" Snotlout new even if he answered yes her was screwed. One of Dagur's motto was that is the other person sunk low, you sunk lower.

"No, but-"

"Then the only other explanation of this outcome is that you lost. You were outplayed, outmatched, out skilled, BEATEN." Dagur said simply. "And while I find it hilarious that anyone, let alone one of my best men, would lose to Hiccup, I do not find any appeal in the idea of my gang's name being tarnished by losing to some scrub."

Snotlout balled his fist up. "I admit that I screwed up, but he just got lucky! I can beat Hiccup, just give me another shot and I'll prove that I can-"

Dagur held his hand up. "I'm going to stop you right there Jorgenson. I'm not a huge fan of giving second chances. Especially not to people who failed at jobs that I know they really shouldn't have." He said sitting back down on the couch. "But I'm very tempted to make an exception for you Snotlout. You remind me of… me, in a way."

"You're ruthless, stubborn, and willing to go to extreme lengths to get what you want. I can respect that." He said picking his ear. "So here's what I'm going to do. In one month there is going to be a local tournament, hosted by the WBBA. I'm actually going to be entering it, and so are you." He said nodding towards Snotlout.

The boy froze for a moment. Was he actually expecting him to beat him to earn his way back in the gang? There was no way he could take down Dagur. He was too powerful. "Don't get your undies in a bunch Jorgensen. I'm not telling you to beat me. I have a… friend, who can arrange that both of us end up on opposite sides of the bracket."

A friend. That's what Dagur always told them when referring the person who seemed to get him so much pull within the WBBA. None of them had any idea who this 'friend' was, and they all knew better than to question him. "Anyway, it'll be good publicity if two members from our little click make it to the finals. You make it there, and I'll give you another shot."

Snotlout nodded. "I won't let you down."

"You'd better not." Dagur threatened. "As for Hiccup guy… I don't care. I doubt we're ever going to hear of this kid getting in our way again. Now, you three are dismissed."

The three nodded and walked out. "I'm glad he let you off the hook with just that. I'm assuming the fact that it was Hiccup made him let you off easy." DB said. Snotlout knew he was being sincere, but it still irked him. He didn't need any more reminders that he'd lost to Hiccup.

"Only because Dagur found it so amusing." Heather said giggling. "If it'd been anyone else in town I doubt he'd be as forgiving. He probably would have knocked you down a rank, or not even bothered giving you a chance to rejoin."

Snotlout turned towards her. "You just wait and see. By the end of the month I'll crush every single person in that tournament. I'll have become so strong that Dagur won't even bothering keeping you around anymore." He said glaring at her.

Heather shrugged. "If you say so. But in the meantime, is that Haddock kid free game? I'd like to take a crack at him and see if he's really as clever as that battle led on."

"I'm not going to lie, I kind of want to take a shot at him too. Could be interesting." DB said.

Snotlout grunted. "No, he's my game. When this is all over I'm going to make sure to pay him back for everything he did to me tenfold." He said. "You two just stay out of my way until then." He started walking off, headed to who knows where. He needed to train. To get stronger than he ever was before. This was going to be his only chance to get to the top. He had to redeem himself.

After he left, Heather chuckled. "I don't care what he says. If I see a chance to convince Dagur, I'm going to go after that guy. After all, bringing down the guy who beat him would probably boost you to number one in this place." She said.

DB looked up in thought. "Or it could prove that his loss really was just some fluke." He said hopefully. "But Dagur has said to leave him alone, so as long as he keeps under the radar, we can't touch him."

Heather pouted. "Boo."

* * *

Hiccup sat on the roof of his school and stared up at the sky. He hadn't been required to go to class for the rest of the year, just like Gobber said, but he ended up having to come here anyway just to get away from everyone. Ever since he'd defeated Snotlout, people had been swarming around him, asking him all types of questions and advice.

When did you get so good? Where did you get Fury? Where can I get one? How did you come up with that special move? Now, it wasn't like he didn't enjoy being the center of attention for once. He was the talk of the town now. But he certainly didn't know how to handle it. He wasn't used to everyone… well, looking up to him.

He heard Toothless barking, but just sighed. "Toothless, I'll walk you later. Right now I don't want to risk running into anyone who'll bother me."

"Not even me?" He opened his eyes up and saw a familiar blond standing over him. Astrid waved her hand. "Hey, what's up?"

He quickly sat up. "Astrid? Hey, how did you find me?"

She sat down in front of him. "Well, first I stopped by your house, but when you weren't there I figured I need a bird's eye view." As if on cue, a blue and yellow macaw flew down and perched itself on her shoulder. "This is Stormfly."

Hiccup whistled. "A trained bird. You never cease to amaze me… wait, how did it know what I looked like without seeing me first?" He asked. "Unless, you have a picture of me?" He asked with a smirk forming on his face.

Astrid looked caught off guard. "What? No, it's just that…" She narrowed her eyes at him and then punched him in the arm. He grunted in pain. "That's none of your business!" She snapped, trying to hide the blush on her face.

He couldn't help but let a small smile show. He'd never seen her blush or get embarrassed before. He'd only seen her act cold and uncaring. He wasn't exactly used to this side of her, but he certainly did like it. "So, did you find me so we could head to the bey-park? You know we're going to get swarmed again."

She relaxed a bit. "I know. Everyone is still in a frenzy over you defeating Snotlout. Because you knocked him off, everyone thinks your top dog in town now. And because you're not an egotistical meathead like Snotlout, people aren't afraid to approach you." She said. "I was thinking maybe we could just hang out at your place?"

Hiccup felt himself tighten. She wanted to come over to his house? While his father was away? That would mean the two of them would be alone. He tried to speak, but couldn't seem to find the proper words to say. So he just stood there staring at her nervously. Astrid looked at him clearly confused.

Before she could ask what the heck was wrong with him, she noticed a figure standing near the door. She looked up and the figure retreated. She hadn't gotten a good look, but she would have recognized that hulking figure anywhere. "Fishlegs. Stop hiding behind that door. I know it's you." Hiccup turned around towards the door, but saw nothing.

A few seconds later however, the large blonde boy peeked his head around the door. "Fishlegs? When did you get here? How did you know where we…"

Fishlegs walked out from behind the door and poked his fingers together. "I saw Stormfly flying through the air and I figured that Astrid was looking for you. So I tagged along since… well, I wanted to check out Fury." He said shyly.

Hiccup was clearly confused. "What? You already got a look a Fury. The first day I brought it to school you looked over and pretty broke down everything about it. And you got to see it in battle twice." He said.

Fishlegs nodded. "Well yeah. But I never got any of its actual statistics."

"What?"

Astrid sighed. "Oh great, he's turning into the Alpha nerd again." She said before turning towards Hiccup. "Brace yourself."

Fishlegs pulled out a green laptop from behind his back and then opened it. It had a camera attached to its side. "You see, I'm usually pretty good at breaking down a bey. But I can't tell every little detail about it. So I record beys in action with this program I created, and it can gauge all types of stuff the human eye can't. Spin speed, movement speed, attack power, balance, and just about everything else you could think off." He said excitedly.

Astrid was about to tell Fishlegs that they were going to head to Hiccup's house, just the two of them, but Hiccup spoke first. "Fishlegs… that is AWESOME!" He said making his way over to the larger boy's side. "How did you come up with a program like that? There would have to be some serious mathematics to be able to determine those just from recordings!"

"Oh, it was. But once I found a basic formula it wasn't too hard. It can get a basic read just by seeing a bey, but it does its best work when it's recording a battle!" Fishlegs said happily.

Hiccup pulled out Fury and held it in front of the camera, and sure enough it gave a basic overview of its parts and abilities. "That's amazing! What beys do you have recoded so far?"

"I've recorded mines and the twins, Nadder. I recorded Nightmare, but I should probably update that the next time I get the chance. He got way more powerful. I would have recorded your battle with Snotlout but… I kind of thought it was going to get destroyed and I didn't want to get that on video. But we can totally record it now! I would love to add it to my list!" Fishlegs said eagerly.

Hiccup looked eager as well. Having numbers and actual statistics would be able to help him out immensely in future battles. He turned to Astrid. "Did you hear that? We should head down to the bey-park right now and… why are you looking at me like that?" He asked.

Astrid was staring at him with narrowed eyes. "Nothing." She said gritting her teeth. Normally she wouldn't be all disappointed about a battle. She loved battling, and watching battles. But he was turning down alone time with her so they could record and get some statistics? Not that she wanted to really be alone with him that is. Fishlegs was just annoying is all.

It was easier to just hang out with Hiccup… yeah, that was it.

Now, Hiccup considered himself to be pretty good at picking up on moods. He certainly wasn't as dense as most other guys his age when it came to women. But right now he was so excited about the prospect of gauging Fury's power, he was blinded from the clear annoyance Astrid was giving off right now. "Sweet, let's go!"

He and Fishlegs ran off while Astrid just sighed and walked after them. "Wait up you two! I know where another stadium is so we don't have to go to the bey-park!"

Eventually the three began making their way to the actual park, the one that was outside. Turns out there was a stadium in the middle of it. Hiccup had never seemed to notice it before, then again, he hadn't really cared for Beyblade, so maybe he saw it and just didn't care. Astrid pulled out Nadder and began walking to the other side of the stadium. "I'm ready when you are."

Fishlegs raised his hand. "A-actually. I was hoping that I would be the one who'd be able to battle against Hiccup. I mean, you've been practicing all week, and I haven't even had a chance to battle him yet." He said. Astrid looked at him surprised. Fishlegs did like to beyblade, but he usually shied away from opponents like herself and Snotlout.

Did he think Hiccup's win was just by chance? Or was he just that curious about how strong Fury was? Either way, she knew he had a point. She'd already battled Hiccup plenty of times, and she wanted to see if Fishlegs was up to the challenge. "Be my guest."

He smiled. "Thanks! I've just got to set up this the auto recording so I can collect the data." He said opening up his laptop. After about a minute, he sat it on a nearby bench and then made his way to the other side of the stadium. "Okay! I'm ready!" He cheered.

Hiccup smiled and pulled out Fury, while Fishlegs pulled out his own bey. It had a green face bolt with a very large and rough looking dragon head on it, a green energy ring, a rock fusion wheel, an S130 spin track, and a wide ball performance tip. "A defense type?" Hiccup said a bit surprised. He hadn't seen a lot of those around.

"This is my Rock Gronckle." Fishlegs said. "It's one of the most sturdy and stable defense types out there. It really comes in handy for collecting data since it can take just about any attack thrown at it." He said happily.

Hiccup looked at it carefully. It definitely looked sturdy. Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful Hiccup. Defense types have a natural advantage over Attack types like ours. Try to finish it off as quickly as possible."

"I don't want to finish him off too quickly. He's trying to collect data."

She sighed. "Don't start getting cocky just because you beat Snotlout. Fishlegs is no pushover Hiccup. Even Snotlout always had trouble getting past his defense, and you know how powerful he was. Finish this off quickly." She warned.

Hiccup looked a little confused, but nodded. Fishlegs certainly didn't seem like someone to be feared, but then again, neither did he. "Alright then. You ready Fishlegs?"

"Yeah!" Fishlegs said placing his bey on his launcher. "3!"

"2!" Hiccup shouted.

"1!" Astrid said watching closely.

"Let it rip!"

Fury and Gronckle both shot into the stadium. Fury began circling around the stadium while Gronckle simply went straight to the middle and sat there. "Go ahead and attack whenever you feel ready!" Fishlegs said. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him. He wasn't talking about this as if it were a battle. He was talking like this was some experiment.

"If you insist! Fury, it's our move!" Fury rushed in and slammed against Gronckle, but nothing happened. It didn't even waver. Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Come on Fury, hammer it!" Fury began ramming into it repeatedly, but Gronckle didn't move an inch.

Fishlegs looked pleased. "Wow, that attack power is awesome!" He said. "They may not be as powerful as Nightmare's, but with Fury's speed they're delivered in such repetition they could overwhelm almost any opponent!"

Any except Gronckle apparently Hiccup thought to himself. "Alright Fury, let's kick it up a notch shall we?" He said. Fury began speeding around the stadium and suddenly disappeared. It reappeared and struck Gronckle, and Fury kept up the attacks. The seemingly unmovable Gronckle however didn't give.

Hiccup could hardly believe this. When he couldn't push Nightmare back it was because the other bey was pushing back with more force, or because it was charging its special attack. But Gronckle wasn't even moving. It was just sitting there. "What is this thing made of?"

"Could you hit with a few more attacks Hiccup? Maybe try using your special attack? I could really use the data on that." Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup didn't want to whip out his special move just yet. He at least wanted to knock Gronckle around a little. "You've got an iron hard defense Fishlegs, but it won't mean a thing in the air! Fury, take him off the ground." Fury made its way to the edge of the stadium and began racing around it.

After a few second, they could feel the air vacuum it was creating. Gonckle however still wasn't moving. "No way! It can't possibly be that heavy!" Hiccup said in disbelief. "C'mon Fury, you can do this! Get him into the air!" Though unseen by the others, Fury was moving even faster.

Eventually Gronckle began slowly moving into the air. So far it was only a few inches off the ground, and though it was still rising, it was doing so very slowly. Eventually Hiccup realized he wasn't going to get it any further up, and to keep pressing Fury to go faster would only ware out its rubber performance tip. "Alright Fury, let's finish this!"

Fury stopped and then rushed towards the middle of the stadium as Gronckle fell. "Get ready, special move! Fury-" Hiccup suddenly grew wide eyed. "Move!" Fury zipped out of the way just before Gronckle crashed back down to the stadium. It caused a few cracks under the spot it landed on.

Astrid looked shocked. She knew Gronckle was heavy, but not that heavy. If Hiccup hadn't of stopped just now, then Fury might have been a pancake. "Aw man, I wanted to get some attack data on your special move. Would you mind trying it again?" Fishlegs asked.

"I don't really have a choice at this point." Hiccup said exasperated. "Fury Strike!" Fury zipped around a few times, once again disappearing from sight. It then rushed in towards Gronckle, facebolt glowing slightly, and slammed into it hard. To Hiccup's surprise, it actually managed to push it back a bit.

"Yeah!" Astrid said pumping her fist. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Fishlegs smiled. "Wow, it really must be powerful to budge Gronckle like that. I'm glad I got to battle you Hiccup! I'm collecting all types of important data. But I think now it's time I started battling back! Gronckle, go!" Gronckle began moving forward. It easily pushed Fury back, and was forcing him towards the edge of the stadium.

Fury moved out of the way just before being pushed out, and Gronckle went after it. It was too slow to actually have a chance at catching Fury, but with all that weight to throw around, Hiccup couldn't be too relaxed or let his guard down. "Hit him Fury!" Fury moved in and hit Gronckle a few times, and then zipped away before the heavier bey could attack back.

"A hit and run strategy. Smart." Fishlegs said. "But I wonder how you'll do when I break out my special move! Gale Force Gronckle!" Gronckle began to glow a dark green, and it's spinning speed picked up immensely. It rushed at Fury who easily dodged the straight forward attack.

Hiccup was curious. Yes, he could tell this was a very powerful attack, but it was just a straight forward one. Anyone could be able to dodge it. Suddenly Gronckle went flying off the edge of the stadium. It sailed into the air and then came crashing back down towards Fury. "Oh crap!"

Fury just barely moved out of the way before Gronckle came crashing down like a meteorite. It caused dust and ruble to fly into the air. When they looked back they saw that Gronkle was no longer spinning. It was lying in the small crater in the ground it had created. "Oh man…" Fishlegs said looking deflated.

Hiccup and Astrid were stunned. Not because of how Fishlegs just defeated himself, but because of how powerful his special move was. Astrid wasn't even aware that he had a special move! "Fishlegs, what was that?!" She asked.

He frowned. "I've been trying to work on a special move ever since I saw Hiccup do it. I figured since Gronckle is so heavy if it managed to crash down on another bey it would so some serious damage. But I clearly haven't got the landing down."

"Maybe not, but if I'd have been hit like that, I'd be done for." Hiccup said.

"I can't believe it Fishlegs. You're a ringer." Astrid said.

Fishlegs blushed at the praise from the two other bladers. Hiccup called back Fury before sliding down into the stadium and picking up Gronckle, struggling to do so. "Man Legs, I never knew you had such a high tech approach to beyblade. If I'd have known you could do stuff like this, I might have come to you for help against Snotlout."

Hiccup walked back up and handed Gronckle to Fishlegs, who looked a little saddened. "Yeah well, we never talked much. I was always kind of tagging along with Snotlout and… picking on you. Sorry about that."

Hiccup waved his hand. "Don't sweat it. I know you were just trying to keep him off your back. I can't blame you for watching your own skin."

"Maybe but I still should have said something or told someone. I used to get picked on too, I know what it feels like. I should have known better than to let that happen to someone else."

"We both should have." Astrid stated.

Hiccup looked at the two and then chuckled. "It's okay guys, really. It's just good having friends to hang out and get stronger with now… we are friends right?"

Fishlegs smiled. "I'd like to be."

Astrid smirked. "As if you even had to ask."

"Why don't we check out the data we collected from the recording? I'm sure we gathered some really excellent info!" Fishlegs said making his way to his laptop. Astrid shook her head, but followed after him. Fishlegs was good at breaking down statistics. Maybe he really would have some information she could use against Hiccup. Though she would never admit it, she wasn't sure she could beat him anymore.

Hiccup just watched his two new friends. In less than a week, he'd found a fun new hobby, knocked his bully down a peg using said hobby, and made some brand new friends. And it was all thanks to a little spinning top his mother sent him. He looked down at Fury. Beyblade really was awesome.

* * *

**A/N: Alright! I hope you like this chapter. I know it may feel like filler, but I have to introduce the others like Fishlegs and the twins. The minor characters from the show will serve as a kind of... filler, for Hiccup to get stronger. You'll probably see other characters from the book like Camicazi and Thuggory show up too, especially since I don't want to use the other crossover characters for the first tournament. **

**Think of the this first tournament as Battle Bladers, and as a set up for the eventual world tournament that will bring in the crossovers. So until then I'll just try to make this as interesting as possible. Bear with me folks.**

**Fishlegs special move Gale Force Gronckle, is based off a move he came up with for Meatlug in the show. It's not exactly how it was in the show, but I just thought it was a cool name, so I put it in there. **


	5. Motivation

Heather sat at her computer and watched the footage of the park cameras. Hiccup, Astrid, and the fat kid whose named escaped her had been practicing all morning. She had hoped to see something interesting, but so far Hiccup hadn't shown anything as powerful as he had when he battled Snotlout. Maybe everything had just been a fluke.

"Dagur told you to drop it." She turned around and saw DB standing behind her. She felt a shiver up her spine. How the big brute always managed to move around without anyone noticing was beyond her. "You're not allowed to meddle in his affairs. Besides, Snotlout will want to deal with this himself when he comes back."

She rolled her eyes and waved him off. "I'm not meddling. I'm just watching. I have to know for myself if this runt really did take down Snotlout, or if it was just a random act of god." She zoomed in to the two beys in the middle of the stadium. Gronckle and Fury. Her attention was specifically focused on the black bey.

She could break down its parts with a glance, but that could only tell you so much about how powerful a bey was. There were numerous factors that could tip the scale. One of the biggest being the blader themselves. The more power and effort put in from the battler, the more the bey would respond.

Snotlout had always had his arrogance power his Nightmare. As far as he was concerned he was the greatest thing on earth since sliced bread. That had explained how he could get such a strong reaction out of his already powerful bey. You had some like Astrid who were driven by sheer will. The twins just wanted to cause chaos, she assumed that's what drove them.

Even Fishlegs had a thirst for knowledge on all things involving beyblade driving him. But Hiccup didn't seem to have anything like that in particular. He'd apparently, from what she had heard, only started blading a few days before he beat Snotlout. How could someone with so little experience beat someone who should have logically surpassed him in all areas?

She needed to find out.

A creak in the door suddenly caught both of their attention. Both of them turned around and saw a small figure quickly ducked behind the door. Neither of them seemed all that surprised however. "Well, if it isn't the little runt. Get out here, we've already seen you." Heather said.

A few seconds later a small boy made his way around the corner. DB grunted. "Gustav, what are you doing snooping around here?" He asked. Gustav always ended up coming around sooner or later. Usually it was too look for Snotlout. The boy seemed to have an admiration for him. Heather and DB tolerated him, but Dagur found him somewhat annoying.

Needless to say, he'd learn to tread carefully when their leader was around. "I was looking for Snotlout. He said he was supposed to practice with me, but I haven't seen him in days. He hasn't been at home, so I thought he might be around here." He said.

"Well, you're wasting your time. No one knows where he is. After he lost to that Hiccup kid he ran off to go train or something. He won't be back for some time now." Heather said going back to her computer.

Gustav grew wide eyed. "Wait a second, you mean he really lost to that guy? I heard people talking about it, but I thought they were lying." He said in disbelief. "Isn't Hiccup his really scrawny cousin? There's no way that he could have lost to him." He said looking to DB.

The older boy simply nodded. "Unfortunately it's true. Snotlout was defeated. I'm not exactly a replacement, but I could train with you in his place."

"I can't believe it! It must have been a fluke! There's no way Snotlout could actually lose to that guy!" Gustav said crossing his arms.

DB nodded. "I'm fairly sure it was too. But Dagur was none too pleased. He's offering Snotlout one last chance. That's why he's off on a training mission. I'm sure he would have brought you along had this not been so important."

Heather grew a smirk on her face. She could work this to her advantage. "You know Gustav, I think I know a way to get Snotlout back quicker so he can train you." She said.

Both Gustav and DB turned towards her. "What?" DB asked raising an eyebrow.

She shot him a quick look, which he ignored. "You see, you're not all that strong of a blader Gustav. I mean you're good for a kid your age, but compared to me or DB, you're not much… no offense." She said when she noticed the sour look on the boy's face.

"Offense taken."

"My point is, that if you manage to beat Hiccup, then that will pretty much prove that it was a fluke. Dagur will probably allow Snotlout to come back, and you'll have your training partner again." She reasoned. "It makes sense doesn't it?"

DB narrowed his eyes at her. They both knew full well that even if by some miracle Gustav managed to win, Dagur wouldn't give two cents. She was only using the boy to try and get a glimpse on what Hiccup was capable of. "I guess so." Gustav said. "Yeah… yeah, I could totally do that! I'm gonna go find him right now!"

With that, the boy ran out of the door. DB glared at Heather. "You're setting him up to fail, and you know it." DB said clearly irritated. He may not have been as fond as the boy as Snotlout was, but he wasn't in favor of sending a kid into a losing battle. Especially when the kid was too naïve to realize it.

"Oh, stop being such a worry wart. It's a win-win for us. We either get to see a glimpse of what Hiccup is made off, or Gustav actually wins and we know not to waste our time on him."

DB shook his head and then walked out of the room. "I don't care what you're planning. But I want no part of it. If it comes back to bite you then leave me out."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said rolling her eyes.

* * *

Hiccup watched the stadium closely as Fury made its way around Gronckle. He had been having a hard time dealing with the heavy weight bey. As fast as Fury was, it could never build up enough momentum to actually damage it. Anything short of its special move couldn't even budge it. It didn't make any sense. He'd seen Astrid move him before in battle.

So why couldn't he?

Fury moved in again and slammed into Gronckle, but again, it didn't budge. The only reason he hadn't lost so far was because Fury's stamina was higher than Gronckle's. Even that wasn't by much. "Fury, from above!" Fury leapt off the side of the stadium and then crashed down on top of Gronckle, but again, it was useless. "I don't understand. What am I doing wrong?"

Astrid, who had been watching silently until now finally spoke up. "You're not putting any passion behind you attacks." She said simply. He looked at her confused. "You're thinking too much. In your mind it's not how hard can you attack, but how much momentum can you build up. You're not putting any emotions into your attacks."

"Emotion? Into beyblades?" He asked. Now, Hiccup did get emotional about the game. He found much joy in battling his friends. He could see how someone, anyone really, could get excited. But the way she spoke suggested that their emotions actually powered the spinning tops. That couldn't be, could it?

"I know it sounds silly, but it's true. Haven't you wondered why Gronckle is so heavy when it's spinning in the stadium, but able to be lifted by Legs and even you when it's not?" She asked.

That was right, she had a point. When he held Gronckle, though it felt significantly heavier than Fury, he could carry it with little to no effort. But in the stadium it was different. It was so solid and heavy that it couldn't be budged. "I just thought Fishlegs had a really strong launch."

"No." Astrid said.

Fishlegs frowned. "Hey, I take offense to that."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, he does, but that's only half of it. I know this sounds strange to you, but beyblades really do respond to the blader. In your fight with Snotlout you were determined to show him you were strong in your own way. And Fury responded to that determination." She explained. "Strategy is important, but so is drive Hiccup."

He looked down at Fury. He still thought it sounded fishy. How could spinning tops could read emotions? How could they even comprehend something like that? "I'll try. But I'm not exactly sure what to think about. I mean, what am I supposed to feel?"

"Whatever you want. I feel determination. My uncle may not look it, but he was a pretty awesome blader back in the day. I'm determined to keep up the Hofferson legacy." She said balling her fist up.

Fishlegs raised his hand. "I like to think about knowledge. With every battle I know there's a chance to discover something new. That's what I'm really driven by." He said.

Hiccup nodded at their answers. That certainly seemed to fit them. But he still wasn't sure what his drive was supposed to be. Was it determination? He certainly used it when he battled Snotlout. But that battle was much more about beyblades. That was more about him standing up to his abusive cousin.

"Hey!" All three of them turned around and then saw a figure standing in the door. The light was shining in so they couldn't see him. "Hiccup, your time is up!" The figure said holding up a beyblade. They all grew wide eyed. Was that Nightmare? Then that could only mean…

The figure walked further, and when they could see him clearly they realized it wasn't Snotlout, but some kid. Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Um… do I know you?"

Astrid on the other hand sighed. "Crap, your still showing up around here. I thought with Snotlout gone you would find some other group to bug. Wouldn't you rather hang out with the twins or something?" She asked.

Gustav looked towards Astrid. "If you're going to blame someone, blame him! He's the one who chased Snotlout out of town!" He said pointing an accusing finger at Hiccup.

Astrid turned towards Hiccup, who was still clearly confused. "The little loud mouth here is Gustav. He's basically trying to become a clone of Snotlout. Right down to being an obnoxious meathead." She said. Gustav stuck his tongue out her, and she glared at him.

"Well Gustav. It's nice to meet you." Hiccup said. He was honestly surprised that there was a kid who wanted to hang around Snotlout. Most kids their age didn't like him. Little kids just downright avoided him. "I'm sorry Snotlout is gone, but it's not like I chased him away."

Gustav huffed. "Yes you did! He's off training so he can defeat you, and now I don't have anyone to train me!" He snapped. "But if I defeat you then he can come back!"

"How will you defeating me get him to come back?" Hiccup asked.

Gustav smirked. "If I beat you, Dagur will know that your win over Snotlout was a fluke, and he'll let him come back!" He said. At the name 'Dagur', both Fishlegs and Astrid grew wide eyed. Hiccup however had no idea who this person was. "I may even get into the gang too!"

Hiccup chuckled. "Gang?" He asked. What kind of kid walked around talking about joining gangs? The more this kid talked, the more Hiccup could start to see why he wanted to hang out with Snotlout. He didn't seem like he was all up there.

Gustav frowned. "Don't laugh at me, I'm serious! One day I'm going to become the best blader ever! Even better than Snotlout or Dagur!" He said pointing at him. "But for now I'm going to start with you! I challenge you to a battle Haddock!"

Hiccup sighed. There was no harm in battling a little kid he supposed. He had a couple of other battles with some of the younger bladers in town. Though that was mostly just practice. "Alright, I guess I'll battle you. Do you guys mind?" He asked turning towards his blonde friends.

Astrid and Fishlegs shared a glance. "Uh, yeah. We need to talk about something anyway, so have at it." Fishlegs said before making his way over to his bag. He pulled out his laptop and began typing something, and Astrid stood beside him whispering something.

Hiccup looked at them strangely. What were they so worried about? "Hey, don't look at them, look at me! I'm the one you're battling!" Gustav said holding up his beyblade. The face bolt definitely had the same one as Fury. It looked similar too. The only difference was the shape of the fusion wheel. "You're going to have to deal with my Fang Nightmare now!"

Hiccup pulled out Fury and placed it on the launcher. "I'm glad you excited." He said. He wasn't about to get heated up in a battle with a kid. It was too childish. "3."

"2!" Gustav shouted.

"1!" They both said.

"Let it rip!"

Both beys went flying into the stadium. Hiccup smiled towards Gustav. "Why don't you go first?" He offered.

Gustav looked annoyed. Did he think he was like the other kids he battled around here? Well he would show him. If he was going to hold back, then Gustav would take full advantage. "Nightmare, wrap this up quick!" Fang Nightmare rushed in and smashed into Fury.

The other bey was easily pushed back by the force of the blow. Hiccup had been totally taken by surprised. How did he have so much power in him? "Fury!" Just before Fury was pushed out, it move from in front of Nightmare. "You're not bad kid." Hiccup said.

"Nightmare, don't let up!" Nightmare kept going after Fury. Its attacks were powerful. Not quite as powerful as Snotlout's Nightmare, but it would have been pretty hard to tell the difference. "C'mon! Keep punishing him!"

Hiccup was shocked to say the least. He didn't think any kid his age could pack this much power. It wasn't as if he felt overpowered or anything, but this kid was significantly stronger than the ones he usually battled. "Fury, push back!" Fury matched Nightmare's attacks, the two clashing over and over again.

"Now you're taking me serious huh? Good!" Gustav said smirking. "Nightmare, show him what the future beyblade champion is capable of! Flame Star!" Nightmare lit on fire and then charged at Fury, knocking it back.

Hiccup couldn't believe this. He even had a special attack? How? It didn't make any sense to him. "You really are powerful, especially for a kid." Hiccup said. "But I'm about to let you run rough shot over me! Fury, speed up!"

Fury began moving quickly, zipping all around the stadium. Gustav chuckled. "Speeding up won't save you! Flame Star, level two!" The fire around Nightmare began taking shape. It formed a spinning star around the red bey.

Hiccup scowled. It wasn't as powerful at any of Snotlout's special attacks, but it was just as annoying. Fury couldn't approach without being burned. "Did you think I was kidding about being the best? Did you think I was just another kid you can hold back on?" Gustav said glaring at him.

"I thought we were having a fun game!" Hiccup said. "I don't understand it! What is it with you wanting to be so powerful? What is it about being the best that's so important?" He really didn't know. Beyblade was fun. It was exciting. Why couldn't that just be enough for people like Snotlout?

Gustav scoffed. "Are you kidding? Of course I have to be the best! I'm not just going to settle where I am! I want to move on! Get out of this town! I want to experience everything the beyblade world has to offer, and I'm not going to do it by just being happy where I am! I need to get stronger! I need to be the best!" He shouted.

Nightmare's flames suddenly began growing bigger. Fury had to move to the edge of the stadium to avoid the flames. "That's why I follow Snotlout! Cause he's the same! He understands! And that's why I won't accept him losing to someone like you!" He said as Nightmare suddenly rushed at Fury.

Fury was sent flying back by the powerful blow. The fire spinning around it also added on some extra damage. "Getting beaten by someone who 'just wants to play for fun' after working so hard to try and reach the top! It's absolutely infuriating!"

Nightmare once again crashed into Fury. Hiccup listened carefully to the boys words. So that's why Snotlout was so desperate to beat him. He wanted to be the best. Not just the best in their town, but the best in the world. And Hiccup who had just started blading last week had put him to shame. He almost… sympathized with his cousin.

Hiccup grew a look of determination on his face. "I think get what you saying. Working hard at something just to deal with someone who doesn't take it serious must be pretty insulting." He said balling his fist up. "So I'll get serious!"

Fury suddenly began moving around the stadium. It picked up speed and caused a small tornado in the ring. Gustav looked shocked at the flames were sucked upwards. When the flames were gone, Fury rushed in and crashed into Nightmare, pushing it back.

Gustav growled. "Nightmare, don't let him push you!" He shouted. Nightmare began pushing back, and the two beys were in a deadlock.

Hiccup smiled. "I won't say Beyblading isn't fun Gustav. Because it is. It's exciting, a total rush, and downright enjoyable. But I also don't want to insult other bladers. So I'll take it seriously from now on. But that doesn't mean I still can't have fun either!" He said laughing.

Gustav looked at him confused for a few moments, and then smirked. "Hmm, whatever! I'm still gonna beat you!"

"You'll try!" Hiccup said.

The two beys kept clashing against one another. They moved around the stadium, each clash more powerful than the last. Though the difference in power was small, looking closely one could tell that Fury seemed to have the power advantage.

Gustav punched forward. "C'mon Nightmare, go!" He said laughing. He didn't know why, but for some reason he wasn't concerned about winning right now. He wasn't concerned about being the best. He was just enjoying the battle. He was enjoying beyblading.

Hiccup was smiling ear to ear as well. He was also having fun, but he was pushing himself as well. When he battled Snotlout he pushed himself because he had something to prove. But now he was pushing himself because… well, he could! He was also just enjoying the battle. And the more he pushed himself, the more fun the battle became.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Gustav yelled. "Nightmare, Flame Charge!"

Hiccup nodded. "Let's see what you got! Fury Strike!"

The two beyblades charged at one another with all their power. They clashed in the middle of the stadium and the two were almost blown back. When they looked back to see who won, they saw was Fury was still spinning. Nightmare however had stopped.

Gustav groaned. "Oh man, I can't believe it! I lost!"

Hiccup chuckled before calling Fury back to him. "C'mon kid, don't be bummed. You put up a good fight. And you really taught me something today." He said. "I know what powers my beyblade now. It's just the love of the game. Nothing more, nothing less. And you're the one who showed me that. So I owe you one."

Gustav sighed. "Whatever." He said pouting. "But… I guess it was a pretty fun battle. Still, I'm not going to take this lying down. I'll come back eventually, and I'm gonna win next time." He said with a smirk.

Hiccup nodded. "I'll be here whenever you're ready. If you ever need help training, or just want another battle, I'll be happy to help."

Gustav couldn't help but smile. He should be furious right now. Not only did this mean Snotlout wasn't coming back, but he could pretty much kiss his chances of joining the gang any time soon goodbye. But he didn't feel any malice towards Hiccup. He felt happy. That was probably the best battle of his life, and he'd grown even stronger. "I'm holding you too that!"

With that the child grabbed his bey and ran out. Hiccup looked down at Fury. He finally got what Astrid and Fishlegs had been talking about. He had seen it in the way Nightmare responded to Gustav. Fury wasn't just a spinning top. It was a… a thing. Not alive exactly, but… he didn't know how to describe it.

"Hiccup!"

He quickly turned around and saw Astrid and Fishlegs looking at him worriedly. "What's wrong?" He asked clearly concerned.

Fishlegs coughed. "Well, we don't want to panic you or anything, but we may have found some very interesting information that could be very bad for-"

"Someone might be after you." Astrid said bluntly.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Oh course someone is after me. People have been after me ever since I beat Snotlout. That kid was just-"

"This is different. Did you hear the name of the gang he mentioned?" Fishlegs asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, the Berserkers right? And he said they were led by some guy named… blade, knife?" He asked scratching his chin.

"Dagur." Astrid corrected.

Fishlegs nodded. "He is one dangerous guys Hiccup. Not only is he the leader of the toughest gang in the area, but he's the strongest blader for miles. Do you remember how hard you had to work to beat Snotlout? Well even if you worked three times as hard, you'd be nothing but a kitten compared to him."

Hiccup felt a bit nervous now. "H-he's that strong?"

"Nobody in town stands even the slightest chance against him. Not even Snotlout." Astrid explained. "If he's got his sights set on you, I suggest you tread carefully."

Hiccup groaned. "Great, as if Snotlout wasn't bad enough…"

* * *

Back at the Berserker's base, Heather typed at her computer with a smile. She had recorded the whole battle with Gustav and Hiccup, and while the data she collected wasn't as interesting as it had been with Snotlout, it was definitely a significant difference from his normal battles with his friends and the others at the Bey-Park.

Not to mention that she learned what had actually powered his bey. The idea of blading just for the pure enjoyment was strange to her. Not that she didn't enjoy it herself. But usually someone had another motive. It looked as if Gustav was useful for something after all. "How did your little experiment go?"

She turned and saw DB standing in the doorway. "I thought you said you wanted nothing to do with what I was planning?" She said with a sly smile on her face.

He grunted. "I don't. But I do need to know what's going on around here."

She rolled her eyes. Couldn't he just admit he was just as curious as she was? "Gustav didn't beat him, but I did get another glimpse of his power. It was interesting to say the least. And I know that can't be his full power. I wonder what type of reading I'll get when he's pushed to the limit."

"I doubt you'll find out. Without another guinea pig like Gustav to push him, you won't be able to conduct your wicked little experiments." He said.

Heather smiled. "Oh, I don't need guinea pigs. He's proven he's quite the opponent. I think I should send someone tougher after him…" She said as she began typing. "Like one of the others gang leaders for example…"

DB grew wide eyed. Was she serious? He thought about telling her to stop, to tell her she was overstepping her boundaries. But then he thought about it. If this Hiccup person really was as strong as they thought, he might actually be able to take out one of the gang leaders. It would cripple their reputation.

In the best case scenario they would take each other out. In the worst case, Hiccup would be pushed to his limits, lose, and things would go back to normal. It seemed like a win-win. "How do you plan on doing that?" DB asked.

"Oh, don't you worry about it. I have my ways…"

* * *

**A/N: And there we go! Another chapter. I wanted to add Gustav in this time because I liked the idea of him being like a little brother type character to Snotlout. I wished they had used it more in the show. I mean they had one episode where Snotlout kind of sorta mentored him, but that was about it. We'll be seeing him later. **

**I know people are probably wondering where the characters from other series like Frozen and Brave are, but please be patient with me. I'm saving them for a big later since I don't want to waste their characters. Think of these next few chapter as 'Battle Blader' from the Metal series. A small tournament to wet your appetite before the world tournament(like you didn't know there would be a world tournament eventually) **

**Anyone, some of you might be tired of Hiccup's battles, so next chapter we're going to focus on someone else. A certain blonde is about to have her time in the spotlight.**


	6. Battle of the Blonds

The meeting of the gang leaders.

It was never a pleasant experience, but it was a necessary one. It was the only time the leaders could be in the same place without trying to tear one another apart. It was also the only way to keep peace among the gangs themselves. They would discuss all types of subjects, the most important beings territory disputes.

A gang's reputation was based on wins, and if another gang members came around and started wiping out rival members, it made them look bad. So they kept to their own towns and territories. It was better than there just being a mass free for all. The three biggest gangs were the ones that met the most. There were others, but they were much smaller in comparison.

The first of the main three were the Berserkers, led by Dagur himself. He was known as a maniac, and was usually up for a fight. He looked for any excuse to challenge rivals gangs. It was like he just got a kick out of the chaos that ensued. But recently he had been calming down a bit. No one knew why, but he had dialed back his crazed ways.

The second of the main three were the Bog-Burglars. They were the only all-female gang, and they prided themselves on it. Their leader was Camicazi, a very cunning and slick woman who was known for scouting bey-parts. What she used them for no one really knew, because she always stuck with her usual bey, the Poison Changewing.

The final of the main three were the Meatheads. A gang that treasured power above all else. Their leader was Thuggory, who was surprisingly the most subtle of the three leaders. He participated little in battles, his gang didn't seem to have any ulterior motive. Though everyone knew better than to take his silence for weakness. His Snaffle Fang made sure of that.

The three leaders sat at the table in the middle of their usual meeting place, an old abandoned super market. "There are an awfully lot of abandoned buildings in this town, aren't there?" Thuggory pointed out sitting at his end of the table.

Dagur shrugged. This town was his territory, and he never really thought about it before, but it was kind of true. Didn't these people ever hear of construction before? It was like every time they shut a place down they just… left it there. "Whatever. So why don't we get down to business. I heard someone managed to snatch of a shipment of rare parts."

Camicazi narrowed her eyes at him. "I wonder how exactly you heard about that. Your little spies working overtime this week?" She asked an edge to her voice. She knew Dagur had some influence over some of her members. She fully intended to weed them out once this was over.

"Oh, just rumors and hearsay. Now I wonder, would you be interesting in sharing some of those dear parts of yours with me. I could put them to great use." Dagur said smiling.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't give a crap about how you'd use them. You better believe when I find whoever is leaking info to you I'm going to take care of them."

"So is that a yes?" Dagur asked.

She sighed. "I'll split the parts with you if you let me have the old Bey Park. Your members don't use it, and it'll make a great training ground and storage house for my gang."

Dagur shrugged. "I don't care about that old place." He said sitting back in his chair. "We have a deal. I'll send some guys to pick up the parts tomorrow."

Thuggory didn't seemed to be paying attention to anything they had said. He never really did. The only reason he had agreed to come to this thing was to avoid conflict. "Well, if you two are done I think I'm going to leave now." He said getting up.

As he walked off Dagur chuckled. "Oh come on, don't want to stick around and chat with old friends? We haven't had a chance to catch up in some time you know. I heard you've got a lot of fresh blood joining your ranks. What's that about?" Dagur asked with a grin.

"Respect pulls in more people than fear." Thuggory said simply. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going. Was nice seeing you again Camicazi." He said nodding. She nodded back and he left out without sparing them a second glance.

Camicazi rose up as well. "I think we're done here. Remember to keep your gang on their side of the boundary. If I see your scum crossing over again, I won't show them any mercy."

"Don't care." If his members were too dumb to know not to cross her, then they deserved whatever they got. "You two are no fun anymore. Our first couple of meetings were much more fun. Now all we do is talk about business stuff."

She rolled her eyes. He was right. In their first couple of meetings all they did was fight. Well, she and Dagur fought. Thuggory just sat and watched. "There is something else to talk about boss." Both of them turned their attention to Heather who was standing a few feet behind Dagur. "Have you told her about the Haddock kid yet?"

Dagur scowled. "Oh please, that's hardly worth bringing up." He said before getting up. "I guess there really is nothing to talk about. Anyhow, Heather will suit out the details of the parts with you. I'm going to go find something to entertain myself. Maybe I'll swing by the bey park and crush some rookies. That's always fun."

As he left, Camicazi turned towards Heather. "What were you saying about that Haddock guy?" She asked. Something that seemed to irritate Dagur was worth knowing about.

"This guy named Hiccup Haddock defeated Snotlout." Heather explained. "Was right out of nowhere too. I mean no one had ever heard of this kid and then suddenly he just appears. He's like Berk's new champion or something." She was trying to spark as much interest in Hiccup as possible.

Camicazi smiled. "Berk you say? I had some business to handle around there anyway. Maybe I'll check out this Hiccup kid while I'm there." She wasn't interested in recruiting any boy, but anyone who was able to defeat Snotlout was worth investigating. Besides, there was something else she needed to check up on.

Heather smiled to herself. If everything went according to plan, she would be able to record some top notch data. Not only would she gather info on Hiccup, but she might even get some information on Camicazi. That would definitely make Dagur happy.

Little did she know Camicazi had nearly zero interest in Hiccup. Sure he might have been worth checking out. But she wouldn't have made a trip to Berk just for him. She had an old friend she wanted to pay a visit too.

* * *

"Nadder, take them out!"

Deadly Nadder rushed towards the middle of the stadium and rammed the three beys in the middle. Two of them were knocked back near the edge of the stadium, while the third had gotten a stadium out. Astrid kept her eyes on the beys still inside as the boys across from her scowled. The remaining two bladers moved in to attack Nadder.

Astrid reacted quickly, and Nadder swiftly avoided both attacks. The beys came back around and prepared for another attack, but this time Nadder rushed to meet them. It collided with the first bey, the resulting clash sending it flying out of the stadium. The sole survivor glared at the blonde who was still completely focused on the battle. "Darn it!" The boy shouted.

His bey zipped forward to meet Nadder, hoping to somehow overpower it while it was recoiling from its last attack. Just before it could hit however, Nadder swerved out of the way and quickly countered with its own attack. It followed up with a series of quick small strikes. Eventually it pushed the bey to the edge of the stadium, and with one final strike, knocked it out.

"Astrid wins… again." Fishlegs said bluntly. Hiccup sat beside him looking impressed. There weren't many people in town who could compete with Astrid. He, Fishlegs, and Snotlout were just about the only ones who could hold their own again her and each other. The other kids didn't really stand a chance against her.

But still, three against one was not something to just shrug off. Hiccup wouldn't have been used to dealing with multiple opponents at once. But Astrid kept completely focused and acted as calmly as always. "Her battle sense is top notch as always." Hiccup said. "She never took her eyes off the battle. Even the few times she was pushed back, it still felt like she was in control."

Fishlegs nodded. "That's how she always battles. Like she's a warrior. They said that Finn used to be the same way, so I guess it makes sense she would pick it up too."

Astrid called Nadder back to her and then turned towards them, letting a smile appear on her face. "I am feeling on fire today. In fact, I think I could take on the both of you at once. Want to take a spin in the stadium to find out boys?" She asked eagerly.

Both of them shook their heads. "No, we're good." Hiccup said. Whenever Astrid got like this he thought it was best to just sit out and watch. If he won, she might get mad and demand another battle. If he lost, she's say he wasn't trying his best and make him battle again. "Besides, I'm just enjoying watching you battle." It was true. He was fascinated with her battles right now. He had never noticed how sharp her battle style had been before now.

She didn't have overwhelming power like Snotlout, or unbelievable speed like his Fury, but made up for it with quickness, accuracy, and precision. She had never made a wasted move. Astrid shrugged. "Suit yourself." She said turning back to the stadium. "I'm planning on keeping this winning streak going all day!"

"Beating on a bunch of weaklings is hardly worth bragging about Astrid." Everyone turned towards the door and saw three figures standing there. The boys looked confused, but Astrid grew wide eyed. "Long time no see Astrid. How have you been?" The girl at the front greeted.

Hiccup and Fishlegs turned towards their blonde friend with a puzzled expression. Astrid was now seething. "What are you doing here Camicazi?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Camicazi shrugged. "Geeze, what's with the cold reception? I can't stop by to visit an old friend of mine?" She asked as she made her way towards the other blonde girl. "I see you've been keeping some new company since Snotlout left. So which one is Hiccup? I'm going to guess it's the scrawny one there."

Astrid narrowed her eyes at her. Was she here to fight Hiccup? She knew Dagur might be after him, but she didn't think the other gangs would take any interest. They never tried to take care of each other's targets before. Not unless they were planning on recruiting them. But the Burglars were an all-female gang, so that couldn't be it.

"He doesn't look like much of a blader, but we both know looks can be deceiving. He is kind of cute though. You always did have good taste in boys. I was worried you'd end up settling for Snots." She asked.

Astrid looked even more irritated, and grew a blush on her face. "We're not dating." She muttered as calmly as she could. "Why are you here?"

"So he's single then?"

"Camicazi!"

She held her hand up. "Alright, alright. I'm just trying to make small talk. I came back to see if you were interested in rejoining the gang. Since Snotlout is gone and you got-"

"No." Astrid said bluntly. "I told you I'm never coming back. I'm done with the Burglars. Now take a hint and leave me alone. I don't want see your face in my uncle's shop ever again."

Hiccup and Fishlegs winced as the harsh tone in her voice. Hiccup didn't know who this person was, or what her relationship to Astrid was, but it must have been pretty bad for her to snap like that. Camicazi simply stared at her before sighing. "You're still just as stubborn as ever huh? Oh well. I guess I'll just have to handle my other business."

She turned towards Hiccup who looked surprised. "So Haddock, you and me in the stadium right now. I want to see if you beating Snots was really a fluke or-"

"What? No!" Astrid said grabbing her shoulder. "Back off!"

Camicazi laughed. "Oh, are you worried about your little boyfriend? Don't worry, I'll be careful not to break him." She said with a devious smirk on her face.

Astrid growled. "I said back off! If you want to battle someone, then why don't you battle against me?" She said stepping towards her.

Camicazi looked amused. "I could battle you I suppose… or I could stick to my target. How about it Haddock? Why don't we go a few rounds." She said walking towards Hiccup.

Hiccup clearly didn't know how to respond. There was something going on here that he wasn't sure he should get involved in. "Um… I don't know. I mean… why don't we all just sit and talk about what's going on here. There's clearly some-"

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh don't worry about that. Astrid has always been on the dramatic side. Right now I'm just interested in you. You will show me a good time won't you?" She asked twirling a strand of his hair with her finger. "Please?"

Hiccup's face was beet red at this point. He let out a nervous chuckle, not really sure how else to respond. On one hand a pretty girl wanted to spend time with him. On the other hand Astrid looked like she was going to strangle them both. "Uh… heh… wha…" He kept trying to form some sort of coherent sentence, but nothing came out.

He suddenly found himself being yanked back by Astrid. The blonde somehow looked even angrier than before. "I told you to back off of him!" She snapped. "We're not playing into your little game Camicazi! You're trying to break his bey and steal the parts! Just like you always do!"

Hiccup grew wide eyed. Breaking apart a bey to collect the parts? Would someone really do something so… bad? He couldn't imagine seeing his Fury broken apart just to snatch up its parts. Not just because it was a treasured gift from his mother, but because it was his. He didn't think he'd be able to just use another bey after this. Fury was special. Like his partner.

"You really don't have a choice in the matter. It's his decision after all." Camicazi argued. "In fact, none of this is any of your business."

"You mess with my friend, then it is my business!" Astrid said stomping up to her. The two now stood face to face. "I mean it Camicazi, back off."

Camicazi didn't back down an inch. The two stared each other down for nearly a minute before Camicazi finally smirked. "If you're so desperate to protect your little friend, why don't we make a deal. You and I will battle instead. If you win, I'll leave you and your little friend alone. I won't even think about going after him. Burglars honor."

Astrid cross her arms. "And I guess if you win then I'm supposed to come back to the Burglars again?" She asked clearly unamused.

"Bingo. So what do you say? It'll be fun battling again. Just like when we were kids."

Astrid looked down in thought. She wanted to say no. To just tell her to buzz off and leave them all alone. But she knew Camicazi. That girl didn't make any empty threats. Eventually she would get to Hiccup. And while he had managed to take down Snotlout, there was no way he was a match for one of the leaders.

"Hey, if you want to battle then I'm all for it." They both turned around and saw Hiccup glaring towards Camicazi. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't want to have his friends fighting his battles for him. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Astrid looked a bit surprised. Hiccup had more backbone that she'd given him credit for. But still, this was her fight. "No Hiccup, this isn't about you. This is between me and her. We've needed to settle this for a long time." She said. "Time and Place?"

"Here, tomorrow morning. That way we can avoid a huge crowd. Can't have everyone picking up my secret techniques now can we?" Camicazi said before turning to leave. "See you tomorrow then. Look forward to you coming back to the Burglars."

Astrid glared at her as she walked out of the doors. The two girls both followed after her, one of them blowing a kiss towards Hiccup as she left. Hiccup blushed and looked down at his feet. "I don't believe this!" He heard Fishlegs shout. He looked up and saw that the larger boy looked panicked. "A battle with Camicazi? Astrid, you know she's one of the gang leaders!"

"I know!" Astrid snapped. "But what was I supposed to do? Let her just thrash Hiccup? Its better I battle her then he does. I stand more of chance. And she isn't going to try and knock my bey apart if she wants me to join her. Plus, this has been a long time coming."

Hiccup raised his hand. "Um, king of out of the loop here. Anyone want to explain what's going on here to me?" He asked. "I got the gang leader part down, but how do you two know each other? It sounds like you were part of her gang. I never knew that."

"Part of it, she helped start-"

Astrid punched Fishlegs in the gut. The larger boy kneeled over as the air was knocked out of his stomach. "It's my story to tell, not yours." She said. She looked back to Hiccup who was waiting for her to start speaking. "What?" She asked.

"You just said it was your story to tell."

"So you assumed I would tell it?" Hiccup frowned and she sighed. "Okay fine. Me and Camicazi were kind of best friends when we were little, and we wanted to be the best. We trained every day, tirelessly, mercilessly. We had made a promise to make it to the top and we were intending on keeping it." She explained.

Hiccup nodded and waited for her to continue. "People started gathering around us after a while. The weak following the strong and all that. We didn't mind. We just went with it. That's how the Burglars was started. Just a bunch of girls who liked to Beyblade. We started getting into snatching up bey parts later on."

"Why?" Hiccup asked. Her uncle owned a bey park, what could she possibly need parts for?

"Most of the girls in the group weren't well off. They couldn't afford decent parts, and my uncle owned a shop, not a charity." She said. "Anyway we became pretty big names. Everyone knew who we were, and they knew not to cross us either. Everything seemed perfect. Camicazi was our leader, I was second in command… and then I realized something."

"Camicazi had always been a little stronger than me. When we were kids you could barely tell the different, but as we got older the gap between us widened. After two years of being in the gang I realized that I was just like my rank. Second. We had made a promise as kids to fight for the chance to be the strongest, and I was settling for number two. I didn't like it."

"I couldn't stay in the gang. Not if I wanted to really get stronger. I had to get out from under Camicazi's shadow. To stand on my own two feet. I tried explaining it to her, but she never understood. She thought I was just abandoning her. We had some… heated last words, and then I left. I haven't been back since."

Hiccup nodded in understanding. "Okay, it makes sense why there's bad blood between you, but why did she wait until now to come back and recruit you. It doesn't make any sense to me why she would leave you alone for two years and then come back."

Fishlegs raised his hand. "I think I might know why. With Snotlout gone Dagur's gang has lost a prime member. The Berserkers have never been popular, even among the three gangs. If one of them wanted to strike, the moment their second in command is absent would be the perfect timing. But Camicazi must not think she can do it without a second in command of her own."

"That makes sense I guess. But while I like the idea of knocking Dagur down a peg, I can't stand the thought of going back to the Burglars. I'm not going to go back to being her sidekick again."

Hiccup shrugged. "So just beat her."

They both looked at him. "Hiccup, didn't you hear what I said? Camicazi has always been stronger than I have. The last time we battled I barely stood a chance, how do you expect me to just up and defeat one of the best bladers in-"

"I thought Snotlout was unbeatable, but you taught me better." Hiccup interrupted. "We've been practicing for weeks, training and getting better. You're already way more experienced than I am already. I'm not saying that you'll definitely win, but going in with a losing attitude means you've already lost."

Astrid simply stared at him for a few seconds. Then she suddenly punched him in the arm. He winced and grabbing his arm. "Since when did you start giving the blading advice around here?" She said pouting. "But I guess you are right. I've got to hit her with everything I got and more. I don't want to go back. Not when everything is going well for me."

She was doing well for herself now. She was getting stronger, she had friends. She didn't want that all too suddenly end again. Astrid steeled herself. Forget trying to win, she WOULD win. No one was going to take away what she had now. Not even Camicazi. "Hiccup, Legs, both of you battle against me. I have to get some practice in."

* * *

The time for battle had come, and Camicazi arrived on the dot. The two other girls were following her. Astrid was already waiting at the stadium. She had spent yesterday doing nothing but practicing, preparing herself for her toughest battle yet. She hadn't gone up against Camicazi for years, there was no telling what she learned or how much stronger she'd gotten.

"Oh Hiccup, over here!" One of the girl's called waving towards him. "We don't allow girls in the gang, but maybe I'll convince the boss to make an exception for you cutie!"

Hiccup looked down blushing. "Please win…" He said to Astrid. If he ended up getting dragged around by this gang he's die a quick, albeit happy, death.

Camicazi's demeanor from earlier had changed. She still seemed confident, but she didn't seem nearly as arrogant as before. She was taking this seriously. "It's finally going to come down to this huh?" Camicazi asked. "The last time we battled was when you up and left. And now we're battling so you can join back again. Ironic huh?"

Astrid glared. "I'm not coming back Camicazi. I left for a reason, and whether you want to or not I'm going to make you understand that reason." She said pulling out her Nadder and placing it on her launcher.

Camicazi pulled out her Changewing. It was a red and green bey, and sleek in its design. "It's you who's going to finally understand. We're a perfect team. We can reach the top together." She said putting her bey on her launcher.

"Not the way you want to." Astrid said glaring. "Three."

"Two." Camicazi said.

"One." The other said.

"Let it rip!"

Nadder and Changewing went flying into the stadium. The two beys immediately began circling around the stadium. Hiccup looked at Changewing closely. It had a wide fusion wheel and strange looking spin track. "Poison Changewing, a stamina type." Fishlegs explained. "Stamina types are known for their long lasting stamina. They usually beat the opponents by sleep out."

Hiccup nodded. "That's right. But their also known for their low defensive abilities, so Astrid should have the advantage since Nadder is an attack type, right?" He asked.

Fishlegs looked nervous. "Ideally, but this isn't just a normal match up we're talking about here Hiccup. Camicazi is one of the three leaders. She didn't get there by relying just on her type of blade." He said taking out his laptop. No matter the results of the battle, he was sure to get some good data on both Nadder and Changewing.

Camicazi smiled. "Alright Changewing, go in the for the attack!" She shouted.

Changewing zipped towards Nadder. Astrid balled her fist up. "I'm not afraid of you! Give her a taste of our power Nadder!" She shouted.

The two beys both moved towards each other. They clashed together, both of them bouncing back slightly. Nadder and Changewing both began clashing repeatedly. Hiccup and Legs both looked impressed. It wasn't the all out power clashing they were used to, but it was just as memorizing.

Rather than just run into each other, they dodged, countered, and spaced one another out. It was a battle of technique, not just pure strength. There wasn't a single wasted move from either of the two. If they moved in it was either to land a hit, or to move the other where they wanted them to be. "It's like I'm watching chess or something." Hiccup said.

They moved around each other like it was a dance. "I don't think I've ever seen a battle like this." Legs said going through all the data. "They're both masters as zoning."

Nadder and Changewing both clashed again, this time trying to push each other back. Astrid grunted as Nadder slowly began pushing forward. "Wow, you have gotten stronger since we last battled." Camicazi said. "But not quite strong enough."

Changewing bucked and knocked Nadder back. It moved in and began repeatedly hitting the other bey. Nadder was slowly being knocked towards the edge of the stadium. "Wait until after this battle to decide if I'm strong enough!" Astrid shouted.

Nadder moved, and Changewing missed its next attack. Nadder immediately moved in and began attacking Changewing. Suddenly the situation was reversed, and it was Changewing being knocked towards the edge of the stadium. "Not bad…" Camicazi remarked.

Nadder gave one powerful push, attempting to knock it's opponent out of the stadium. Changewing managed to shake the other bey off, and they began circling around the stadium once more. Astrid smirked at her. "Feeling the heat Camicazi?"

"Don't start getting cocky just because you've gotten a little stronger." Camicazi said. "You may have gotten better over the years, but some things never change. And me being stronger than you is just one of those things." She said pointing down at Changewing. "Vanish."

Changewing suddenly disappeared into thin air. Hiccup and Fishlegs both looked shocked. "W-where did it go?!" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know! I'm still getting a reading on here, but I've got no visual!" Legs said looking closely as his screen.

Astrid wasn't surprised at all. "Still up to your old tricks. I would have thought you'd learn something knew by now." She said. Her confidence was really a façade. Just because she knew how this move worked didn't mean she could stop it.

"Oh, I've picked up some new tricks. You're just never going to see them coming." Camicazi mocked. Suddenly Nadder was knocked to the side. Before it could recover, it was hit again. It was suddenly being barraged by rapid attacks.

Astrid scowled but kept calm. She'd dealt with this before. She just needed to wait. "It's invisible." Hiccup concluded. That was the only thing he could think of.

Fishlegs looked over the data from Changewing's parts. "Huh, you're right. It seems that it's strange spin track combined with that oddly shaped fusion wheel allow it to bend the light in the air around it, making in invisible. Interesting."

Camicazi was giggling. "Don't worry Astrid. Once your back in the gang I'm sure you can think up of a way to counter this. If you grew this strong on your own, imagine how much stronger we'll both get when we're back together again-"

"You really don't get it do you!" Astrid shouted. Everyone looked towards her surprised, even Camicazi. "You really don't understand why I left, not even a little?!"

Camicazi narrowed her eyes at her. "No, I don't." The barrage on Nadder continued. "We were the perfect team. We were going to make it to the top. We could have brought down Dagur with the two of us working together! But you left, abandoned the gang, abandoned your best friend!" She shouted. "All because you wanted to go off and be a loner!"

Nadder was suddenly sent flying up by a powerful strike. "Nadder!" Astrid shouted. The bey went flying up and nearly hit the ceiling before falling back down. It was headed towards the edge of the stadium. "No, it's not over!" She yelled. Nadder turned, barely managing to land right on the edge of the stadium.

Camicazi frowned. She had meant to end it with that attack. Astrid looked relieved, and then glared at her opponent. "You think I abandoned you?! That I left just to be a loner?!" She shouted. "You think I just up and split from my best friend so I could look cool?!"

Nadder began to glow, and Camicazi took notice. She hadn't seen this technique before. "I was trying to keep a promise, our promise!" She yelled. "We said we were going to fight for the chance to be the best! That we'd make it to the top! But what chance did either of us have with the way things were!"

"What are you talking about?" Camicazi asked confused. "We could have-"

"Settled where we were!" Astrid finished. "Neither of us were ever going to get any stronger! I was always just riding your coat tails, following you! And you were content to just let me hold you back! Well I wasn't! I left to get stronger on my own! To gain experience and learn new ways to battle!"

Camicazi was taken aback as Nadder moved towards the center of the stadium, glowing even brighter. "I don't care if you don't understand it, I made a promise, and I'm going to hold up my end of the bargain! Nadder, Spike Storm!"

Nadder suddenly shot out blue energy spikes from its fusion wheel. They spread out in all directions, covering the entire stadium. Everyone heard a loud banging sound and then saw Changewing knocked back, its camouflage now gone. "What?!" Camicazi shouted.

Astrid quickly took this chance to attack. "Take it down Nadder!" The spikes stopped firing in random directions, and began firing solely at Changewing. The bey was being rapidly hit by energy spikes, each one knocking it further towards the edge of the stadium.

Camicazi was amazed she knew she'd grown more powerful, but not to this extent. How hard had Astrid been training all these years? "When did you get so strong?" She asked.

Astrid smirked at her. "I told you, I left to get stronger. And I have. Nadder, let's wrap this up!"

"Alright!" Hiccup cheered.

"She's gonna win!" Fishlegs said raising his arms.

"Boss, what are you doing? Fight back!" One of the girls behind Camicazi yelled.

Camicazi just watched as Nadder increased its fire. Changewing was quickly approaching the edge of the stadium, but she wasn't really thinking about the match right now. She was too wrapped up in what was happening. Had she been wrong this whole time?

She balled her fist up. "I… I don't believe…" She looked down towards her feet. The promise they had made as kids. She had almost forgotten it. But this whole time Astrid was still striving to keep it. How couldn't she have seen that? "I'm sorry."

Everything seemed to suddenly stop. Astrid stopped attacking, Changewing was no longer being pushed back, and the room had grown deadly silent. "What?" Astrid said confused.

"I said I was sorry." Camicazi repeated. Changewing suddenly moved out of the stadium and back to her. "I forfeit." She said turning to leave.

Everyone stood in shock. "What?!" Astrid yelled breaking the silence. "You mean you put me through all of this and you're not even going to finish the battle?! Are you kidding me?!"

Camicazi sighed. "I don't know why you're so upset. We both know I was going to win if we kept going, so you should be-"

"I'm not going to accept that!" Astrid shouted. "Deal or no deal, this was supposed to be an all-out battle! You can't just quit, walk away, and expect me to just go with it! You started this battle, at least have the nerve to finish it!"

Camicazi turned towards her. "I… I hadn't realized all this time you were just trying to keep your word. After we formed the Burglars I'd become so focused on it I never thought about how it was actually… I'd forgotten our promise." She said guiltily. Astrid grew wide eyed. "I can't finish a battle with you, not like this. I'm going to make things right."

She held up her Changewing. "The next time we battle, it won't be over some petty little spat. It will be to finally see who's stronger, just like we promised. There's a tournament coming up soon. All the gang leaders and top bladers in the area are going to be there. We can settle things there, the way we're supposed to." She said.

Astrid just stared at her for a few moments before smiling. She called Nadder back to her and held her bey up as well. "Wouldn't miss it."

Both the blondes locked eyes and smiled. "By the way, I don't think Dagur really cares all that much about Haddock, but if he gives you any trouble just call. We'll keep him off your back."

Astrid nodded in appreciation. "Thanks."

"You know, maybe I should have taken your lead and found a cute boy to settle down with. I mean he's scrawny, but cute in that harmless nerd sort of-"

"We're not dating!" Astrid snapped, her face bright red.

Camicazi gave a mischievous smile. "Of course you aren't. Well, I better be taking my leave. I guess I'll see you at the tournament." She said waving as she walked out. The two girls followed her, one of them blowing a kiss at Hiccup who shuddered.

"Well… that was a thing." Hiccup said walking up beside Astrid. "She said something about a tournament. I haven't heard anything about it."

"The gang leaders always get info before everyone else. They got extra resources and info networks to bring this type of stuff straight to them." Fishlegs explained. "Man, a tournament where all the gang leaders there. It's going to be one tough roster. Glad I'm not entering."

Astrid scoffed at him. "We're all going to enter it." The two boys both looked at her as if she was crazy. "What's the point of us doing all this training if we're never going to put it to the test? So what if their gang leaders? So what if their strong? We'll just get stronger."

Fishlegs held his hand up, but Hiccup spoke. "I think she's right. I mean I love Beyblade, and I want the chance to battle stronger people." Hiccup said. "Don't you want to chance to test all your hard work against other bladers Legs?" He asked.

Fishlegs looked nervous for a moment. "Okay, fine, I'll enter with you guys. But let me just say I'm very concerned about-"

"Noted. Let's go down to the park and grab some lunch." Astrid said. Fishlegs sighed at being interrupted, but made his way out. Lunch sounded really great to him right now. Hiccup was about to follow after him, but suddenly was yanked back. "You, hold on a second."

Hiccup turned towards her. "What's wrong-?"

She punched him on the arm. "That's for getting involved in my business." She said. Hiccup cringed and grabbed his arm. He was about to tell her that he hadn't gotten involved by choice, but suddenly felt a pair of lips press against his cheek. It was quick, but the moment might as well have lasted forever in his mind. "That's… for everything else."

With that she walked out, leaving behind a stunned Hiccup.

* * *

**A/N: Another update! Sorry it took so long, but I was helping a friend out with some other work. Not to mention working on my other stories. But here it is. I hope you liked it. I know the battle didn't finish, but I still tried to make it worth the read. I always had the idea of Astrid and Camicazi being friends/rivals. **

**Now I've mentioned this tournament a few times and I know some of you want me to hurry up and get to it... and honestly so do I. I'm just getting excited about writing it. I had planned to do another chapter with the twins and maybe one about Thuggory, but I think I'm going to skip theirs. **

**I mean let's be honest. You guys all knew I was going to make the twins a tag team, and having Thuggory go after legs would have just seemed repetitive after this chapter. Don't worry, those characters will still get their moments to shine though. **

**To quicken things up the next chapter will be about... Snotlout. After his we'll start getting to the tournament. Hope you guys are excited for it. Remember to leave a review. (I see 37 favorites, that means I should see thirty seven reviews... yeah right.)**


	7. Setting Goals

A loud explosion went off, followed by a large tree falling. It crashed onto the ground, its base burnt to a crisp. A red bey suddenly came spinning towards it, smashing into it once more and shredding it to pieces. The bey didn't stop there however. It leapt up and crashed through another tree, leaving a scorching hole right through it.

Nightmare zipped back towards him, moving in a circling and burning the very ground beneath it. Snotlout merely watched as it moved around him. He'd been out here for… he didn't know how long he'd been out here. He'd been practicing nonstop, only taking breaks to eat and sleep. Every other second was spent training.

While he had seen vast improvement in his power, it wasn't enough. He wasn't sure it would ever be enough. No matter how strong he got he couldn't shake the idea of losing to his cousin out of his head. He would have wrote it off as paranoia, but that's what he did last time. And that had worked out terribly for him.

This was his last chance. If he wanted to make it to the top, he was going to have to beat his cousin. And not just beat him. He needed to dominate the match. He needed to show everyone that he was the strongest in town. His fist tightened. "GAH!" Nightmare flared up and he could feel the heat from the flames pinching his skin.

This was all Hiccup's fault. Why couldn't his wimp of a cousin just roll over and accept defeat like he always had. Why did the little twerp have to go and grow a spine? He growled and waved his hand, sending Nightmare crashing into a nearby boulder. It smashed it into ruble with little effort.

But it still wasn't enough. He needed to find something to give him an edge. Something that Hiccup wouldn't be able to stop with his stupid tricks. Maybe a new special move or something? Anything that could ensure his victory. "Looks like you're having a bit of trouble there brat." Snotlout jumped at the mysterious voice.

He turned around and saw a large figure sitting up against a tree. Snotlout narrowed his eyes at him. How had he not noticed him there? The guy was huge. He brought Nightmare back to him, the bey spun around him flaring up. He may have been stubborn, but he wasn't stupid. A large stranger in the forest at midnight was not something that usually went well.

"Who are you?" He asked dangerously.

The bearded man laughed before taking a gulp from his bottle of liquor. Snotlout assumed that it was liquor anyway. It sure smelt like the guy was drinking alcohol. "I'm just an old man who got drunk and lost in the forest, that's all." He said with a chuckle. "And what about you kid? I don't see a reason for you to be out here this late at night."

Snotlout still didn't let his guard down, but decided to humor the old goat. "I'm training." He said nodding towards the fallen trees and smashed boulders. "And not that I really care all the much, but you could get hurt if you stick around here. So get lost."

The man looked at the destruction behind him and smirked. "Well, you certainly got a lot of power packed behind that bey." The man said taking another swig. Snotlout was going to tell him to get lost again, but the man cut him off. "Too bad you got no bloody idea how to use it properly."

Snotlout was stunned into silence. He stared at the old man who merely belched and leaned his head back against the tree. "What?!" He asked angrily. "Don't know how to use it? Do you see this? I've totally wrecked this place! That's all power you crazy old coot!" He snapped.

The man waved his hand at him. "I didn't say you didn't have power. I said you didn't know how to use it properly. Learn to listen boy."

Snotlout was starting to get tired of this old geezer. "Yeah, well who asked you? Get out of here before I decide to have a new practice dummy." He said turning around.

"Well don't be mad at me just because you can't handle a bey. Bit of a shame really. Back in my day only the real elite could even get their hands on a bey. Now every runt on the street can pick one up at the store."

Snotlout's already thin patience, was growing even thinner. "I'm surprised you even remember back that far you senile old crow. Just because you were pretty good with your ancient old models of Beyblade doesn't mean you should look down on us. We're way stronger than you aging farts ever were."

The old man stopped from taking his next drink. A smile spread across his face. "Oh, is that so?" He asked setting the bottle down. He got up and dusted himself off. "Well would you like to prove it? Right here right now boy."

Snotlout couldn't believe it. With this old man really challenging him to a bey battle? He really must have been senile. "You don't honestly think you can beat me, do you old man? You must have seen what I did to this place. There's no way you could keep up with me."

"Sounds to me like you're scared."

"Bring it on!"

The old man chuckled. He didn't know this boy, but he could tell he was a hot head. Just like he was back in his old days. He reached into his pocket and then pulled out a dark green bey. Snotlout couldn't really get a clear look at it in the dark, but it looked like a defense type. "See this boy? This is a real classic bey. My Whispering Death."

Snotlout snorted. "Huh, that old hunk of junk doesn't stand a chance against my Nightmare. I'm going to burn it to ashes." He said putting it on his launcher. There was no stadium around, so they might as well use the ground itself.

The old man put his bey on his own launcher. "3."

"2." Snotlout said smirking.

"1." They both said. "Let it rip!"

Both their beys went flying towards one another and clashed. Dirt went flying up into the air, and Snotlout was almost blown back by the shockwave. He had expected to end this with one attack, but somehow that old bey had matched his power. Nightmare and Death were locked with one another.

Snotlout grunted. How was he actually struggling against this guy? "Nightmare, push him back now!" He commanded. Nightmare flared up and began pushing Death back, leaving scorched earth in its path. "That's what I'm talking about! Knock that piece of garbage out!"

The old man smirked. "Like I said. A lot of power, but no idea how to use it. Death." Death suddenly stopped, and Nightmare was once again struggling to push it back. "I bet you thought my Death was a defense type didn't you? It's appearance can be deceiving, but it's actually a balance type like yours."

Death suddenly tilted forward, lowering towards the ground. It bucked forward hitting Nightmare with an uppercut and sending it flying back. Snotlout watched as Nightmare bounce back towards him. "What?! How?!"

"I admit using that fire to up your power is a good idea, but you'll need a much hotter fire than that if you want to do anything to my Death." The man bellowed.

Snotlout growled. "You asked for it old man!" He didn't care if the battle just started. He didn't care if it was just an old man. He was going to make sure he burnt this bey to a crisp. "Nightmare, Inferno Explosion!" Fire shot out from Nightmare, engulfing the surrounding area.

The old man didn't budge, but he did look at the sight curiously. Death was engulfed inside the blast of fire. Snotlout laughed as the attack dispersed. Nothing that had been caught in the attack had survived. Death was nowhere to be seen. "HA! I win you old geezer!"

"Oh did you now?" The old man asked with a smirk. Snotlout looked at him confused, but then felt the ground shake. He looked around confused and then saw cracks began forming inside of the ground. They began forming underneath Nightmare. "Death, finish it."

Death suddenly shot from right underneath Nightmare, sending it flying into the air. "From underground?!" Snotlout said in disbelief. He watched as both beys came down. Nightmare landed in front of Snotlout, completely stopped. Death came back down and the old man caught it.

"I win."

Snotlout couldn't believe this. He'd lost, _again. _This didn't make any sense. How could he have lost again? "Y-you cheated!" He accused angrily. "There's no way that old bey could stand a chance against Nightmare! It's impossible!"

The old man laughed. "You really are clueless aren't you? Me cheating had nothing to do with it. You can't just throw powerful attacks around and expect to get results. No one is going to just stand there and try to match you blow for blow if they know they're outmatched."

Snotlout balled his fist up. The last thing he wanted to do was be lectured right now. "Fine then! Share your almighty and powerful secret with me! How did you do… that?!"

"There is no secret. I told you, you need to find a way to use that power." He said turning to leave. "If you're interested in finding out how, I can show you. But not now. Tomorrow. I'm old and I need my rest." He said walking off.

Snotlout glared after him. He didn't need this old guys help to win. He was strong, and he'd only get stronger. He could do this on his own… but, it might be quicker if he learned a trick of his own. So maybe just this once he'd go along with it. "You better not be late!"

The old man just laughed.

Snotlout was angry. For one that old man had taken his sweet time coming back. Snotlout had no idea where he went, so he couldn't track him down. He was stuck waiting in the same spot for hours. When he finally did show up he said he was sleeping off a hangover. Then instead of sharing his secret, he just said he wanted to see Snotlout's launch.

He'd been blading since he could walk! He knew how to launch! But the old man insisted he needed to see it. Snotlout went along with it. Next he wanted to see him attack a few targets, which the old man used empty liquor bottles for. This once again riled up Snotlout. He had seen him attack plenty yesterday. What did he need to see it again for?

After smashing apart what had to be the twentieth bottle, he grunted and turned towards the old man. "What is all of this for?! None of this is going to help me get any stronger! If you're not going to show me you trick already then just-"

"Shut up already." The old man said waving his hand. "I was just seeing you're style, which I must say leaves a lot to be desired. It's literally just smashing into the target."

"That's what Beyblade is!" Snotlout argued.

"No it's not. It's a battle. Tell me, when you see a boxing match, is it just two people punching at each other? No. They duck, they clinch, they corner their opponents. There are all types of techniques and strategies to use in battle, and from what I can tell you use none of them."

Snotlout scoffed. "What? I use strategies… sometimes."

"Your strategy is to smash into the opponents until they stop. That's been getting you by so far because you're more powerful than most of those around you I assume. But a tactic like that is not going to work against a real blader who knows what they're doing." The old man said. "You're were a big frog in a small pond, and somebody bigger finally put ya down."

Snotlout glared at him. He wanted to yell at him and tell him he was wrong, but the truth was… he was right. Snotlout had never thought about it before, but his strategy really only consisted of bashing the opponent over and over again. He was more powerful than them, so it seemed like the logical option.

It was no wonder Hiccup had managed to outsmart him. He was a one trick pony. Snotlout cursed under his breath before turning towards the old man. "What do I do?" He asked.

The old man took another drink and sighed. "Start over, from the basics. Learn everything. And find a way to apply your power in a less blunt way." Snotlout groaned. Start over from the beginning? That would take forever. "It's a pain, but it'll be worth it."

"Fine." Snotlout said. "This better be worth it. What am I doing first?"

The old man got up and pointed towards the river. "We start with your launch. Skip your bey across the river. When you can do that flawlessly it means your launch has perfect balance."

Snotlout smirked. "Easy." He turned and lunched Nightmare towards the river. It skipped about halfway across the river, but then stumbled slightly and dropped into the water. "Crap!" He quickly ran towards the water and jumped in to the retrieve his bey.

The old man bellowed out in laughter as he watched the boy frantically search for it. Thankfully he managed to find it easily enough. Snotlout sighed in relief. "Not so easy is it boy?"

"Shut up! I just slipped! I got this!" He launched again, this time Nightmare made it slightly further, but ended up in the water all the same. "AAAHHHH!" Once again the old man laughed as Snotlout dived inside the water. "The sun was in my eyes!" Snotlout yelled as he came back up with his bey.

This process was repeated for hours. Each time Snotlout came close to making it across, but could never fully make it. And each time he'd come up with an excuse as well, though by this point even he didn't believe them. The old man had found it amusing for a time, but eventually had started to get bored.

"Widen you stance." He ordered.

"What?" Snotlout asked?

"I said widen your stance."

"How will that help?"

"Just do it boy."

Snotlout reluctantly followed his order, and sure enough Nightmare managed to skip all the way across the river this time. He smirked and pumped his fist. "HA! I did it!" He cheered. He turned towards the old man who was grinning. "Okay, okay, you were right… thanks."

"Your welcome. Now do it again."

"Why?"

"So you can get used to doing a proper launch. You want to get better, the basics have to become second nature to you. So once you get the basics down, we'll drill them into your head." He said grabbing another bottle of liquor. "With that type of power along with some skills, you'll be a forced to be reckoned with in no time."

Snotlout smirked. He liked the sound of that. "Alright then. Let's do it."

* * *

It had been a long day. A very long day. Snotlout felt more tired now than he had in the past week of training on his own. This old man was serious about his training. Not only did he have to master the basics, but he had to push himself physically as well. By the time he'd called it a day, Snotlout was completely drained.

"Not bad kid. You lasted much longer than I have you credit for. I thought you'd have quite by now. You must really want to get stronger for whatever reason."

"I want to beat my cousin." He said simply.

"Really? Is that it? You must have some rivalry if you're willing to go this far just to beat your cousin. And he must be some blader to stand up to power like yours."

He gritted his teeth. "That's the thing. He's not. He just started blading for real a little while ago. But he's a smart clever little whelp." He said balling his fist up.

"Oh, a strategist." The old man said.

"He's also got a pretty strong bey. Nothing on my Nightmare, but strong. So I have to get better so I can beat him into the ground and prove myself."

"Beating you cousin will prove yourself?" He asked. "To who?"

Snotlout sat up and looked up in the air. "My gang leader. I work for this guy who's the strongest in town, but I screwed up and now I have to prove myself to him. Otherwise there's no way he'll take me to the top with him."

The old man snorted. "So you're basically just trying to ride on this guy's coattails."

He raised his eyebrow at him. "What? No. I just… I need to get to the top-"

"But you're not strong enough to do it on your own, so you're relying on this guy to do it for you. That's pretty much the gist of it." He said leaning towards him. "Take my advice boy. If you want to reach the top, then you need to do it with your own power. On your own two feet. Otherwise even if you do make it, it'll feel empty."

Snotlout stared at him for a few moments. This old guy had proven that he knew what he was talking about earlier. Even now he spoke like he had some sort of experience with this. "Don't try to be just _one_ of the best. Shoot for _the_ best. All or nothing. At least that's what I say." He said taking another drunk.

Snotlout looked down at his Nightmare. Shoot to become the best. The strongest. Was that even possible for him? He knew he was strong, but he never thought he'd be able to keep up with those on the world level.

Maybe that was why he hadn't been as strong as he'd wanted. Maybe it was just a lack of motivation. He had been willing to settle for just standing beside the strongest, when he should have been trying to become the strongest period. He balled his fist up and gripped Nightmare tightly. "The best in the world."

* * *

**A/N: Alright! Another update! So this chapter focused on Snotlout of course. I wanted to show him a little before the tournament got started. So, who do you think the old man is?(Pretty obvious I think, but still.)**

**The next chapter will be the kickoff for the tournament, and you'll get to see all the characters of the past returns. The gang leaders, the twins, our main characters. Hope you're looking forward to it. **

**Remember to leave a review.**


	8. Battle Bladers

Hiccup chewed on his bottom lip nervously. He knew he probably shouldn't be feeling all that nervous. It wasn't like he was planning on winning the tournament anyway. He was just trying to see how much stronger he'd gotten. But something inside of him couldn't stop from feeling on edge. "Hiccup, would you cool it? We're going to a tournament, not the gallows."

He looked over at Astrid who seemed calm, if not a little excited. "Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm just nervous. I mean I know we've been training and everything, but we're going up against the best of the best. Not to mention that Dagur guy is going to be there. I still don't know if he's got it out for me or not."

"Dagur is just another blader, not some monster. If he really does have it out for you, then just take him down." She said simply. "We've been pouring all of our effort into to training, and we're all way stronger than before. The only thing that we can do now is keep moving forward and make sure it all pays off."

Though it hadn't exactly killed off his nervousness, he appreciated the words and smiled back nonetheless. He tightened his grip on his seat as the train made another stop. Hiccup had rarely had to take the train anywhere. He hadn't been on it in years. He was glad Astrid had made sure to come with him so he didn't get lost.

Hiccup had thought that they would be doing this tournament at the Bey-Park, but both Finn and Astrid had laughed at the very thought. Apparently Hiccup hadn't realized just how big this tournament was. The Bey-Park was too small to hold such a large scale tournament. He wondered just how many people were in this thing if even the Bey-Park couldn't hold them.

The train came to another stop and Astrid nudged him. "This is our stop." She said getting up. He quickly followed after her and when he excited the trained he looked around amazed. The buildings were so tall and large. It looked nothing like their small humble little town. "Don't stare up for so long, you're just screaming tourist."

"Sorry, it's just a little overwhelming. So where are we supposed to be having the…" He stopped when he noticed the large building a few blocks away. It was a huge stadium, making the Bey-Park look insignificant by comparison. "Holy mother of Thor."

Astrid smirked at his reaction. "Pretty amazing huh?"

Hiccup nodded. "It's huge. Man, there must be hundreds of people participating if we have to be crammed into something this big." He said in disbelief.

"Probably. But they're all going to go home disappointed. Cause there's no way I'm losing this thing." Astrid said pushing her fist into her palm. Her battle with Camicazi had definitely had her pumped up. She was renewed with a new fire, and she was determined to take this whole thing. "Better hope you don't get in my way Hiccup."

He smiled back at her. "Hey, you really shouldn't count me out. I mean not to brag, but I'd say I qualify as an experienced blader now. I'm not making it easy for anyone."

She punched him lightly on the arm. "That's the spirit! Let's tear it up out there!" She cheered as they entered inside of the stadium. There were dozens of people entering inside along with them. A receptionist had them sign in before giving them a number and sending them towards the arena. Once they got there, Hiccup was once again taken aback by the sight.

There were four enormous bey stadiums, and people were spread out all around them. Hiccup wondered how all of this was going to work when it started. Were they going to call them up by their numbers to fight one on one? That would take forever. Maybe they would call them up in groups.

"Hey guys!" Hiccup turned around and saw Fishlegs approaching them. "Good to see you finally made it! I was starting to get worried I'd end up here by myself. Not a very pleasant thought."

Hiccup patted his friend on the shoulder. "Aw c'mon Legs, we'd never leave you hanging. We're like the three amigos." He said.

"Yeah. And it'd be really embarrassing to see one of our amigos pass out from fear in the middle of a battle." Astrid joked. "So you've been here a while I assume. Have any of the big names showed up yet?" She asked curiously.

Fishlegs was about to answer when suddenly a voice called out. "Well look who it is! I can't believe you actually had the guts to show up!" Ruffnut said as she and her brother approached.

"I know you're feeling cocky after beating Snotlout, but do you actually think you have a shot here? This is where REAL bladers show up to battle!" Tuff said grinning.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Then what are you doing here?"

Tuff scoffed. "Excuse me? Are you doubting my awesome blading skills? I am a competitor! I'm in line to take this whole thing missy!" He said balling his fist up.

"You the favorite?! Yeah right!" Another voice cut in. Gustav slide in front of Tuff and pointed at him. "I'm the one who is going to take this whole thing, you hear me! And you!" He said pointing to Hiccup. "I have a debt to repay to you! We need to settle things!"

Astrid groaned and face plamed. She had expected the twins to come, but Gustav. "I'm pretty sure it got settled when he beat you." Fishlegs pointed out.

"T-that was a fluke!" He shouted back.

"Fluke or no fluke, I'm the one who's going to win. The rest of you might as well just go home." Ruffnut said making a shooing motion it her hand.

Astrid laughed. "Hah! I'm been training for this all month. No way I'm getting sent home by two mutton heads like you." She said stepping towards the female twin.

Before they knew it everyone was yelling and arguing over who was going to win. Hiccup just stood back and watched. He didn't want to get involved in any argument, especially not about winning this thing. If he got cocky and ended up losing, it'd be embarrassing. "So, you're the one who beat Snotlout?"

Hiccup blushed as he suddenly found himself face to face with a raven haired girl. "It's still so hard to believe. I mean you're the modern day David to Snot's Goliath." She said before lifting his chin. "There certainly isn't anything physically special about you. Though you are a lot cuter than Snot ever was."

The others had stopped and were watching as Hiccup was scanned over by the girl. Astrid was the first to react, grabbing the girl's wrist. "Um, excuse me. But who are you?" She asked glaring at the girl. "It's rude to just walk up and start touching people you know."

"Oh, things are getting catty." Tuffnut laughed.

Heather held her hands up. "Oh don't get to touchy. I'm not interested in your boyfriend. I'm just curious about that bey of his. Night Fury right?" She asked. Hiccup looked at her surprised. How did she know that? She had never met this girl, or even seen her around town. "Heather is the name, information is my game. And I've been watching you for some time Hiccup."

"Um… okay." He said confused.

"You know, Dagur said to leave you be. He doesn't think you beating his second in command is really the big of a deal. Just a fluke. But I don't. I think there's something special about that bey of yours. So show me something interesting, okay?" She said winking at him.

She walked off leaving a flustered Hiccup, and a pouting Astrid. "Did you hear that? She mentioned Dagur. She must be part of his gang." Fishlegs pointed out.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Astrid spat.

"She is a member of the Berserkers. That's Heather, the brains of their operation." Camicazi clarified as she approached the group. The twins and Gustav looked shocked. Even Fishlegs looked a bit nervous. One of the three leaders was talking to them. "Sup."

Astrid nodded. "Hey. You ready to settle this once and for all?" She asked.

"You know it." Camicazi said smirking. "Once we weed out the rest, it'll just be you and me in the stadium. And once I beat you, I'm going for Dagur next."

Astrid waved her off. "I'll tell you what. After I beat you, then I'll handle Dagur. What else are friends for?" The two blonde girls stared one another down before sharing a laugh.

"Wait, since when were Camicazi and Astrid friends? When the heck did this happen?" Tuff asked leaning towards Fishlegs. The larger boy just shrugged, not feeling like explaining.

After Camicazi finished laughing she nodded towards Heather. "You really should watch out for her though. She may be in the gang for gathering info, but she's also a pretty good blader, and she's not the only one either. Dagur has his third in command DB here as well. And I'm almost Thuggory is lurking around somewhere too." She said.

"What? All three of the gang leaders are here?! Man, talk about tough competition!" Gustav said. "When I win this thing, I'll be able to say I took down three of the best bladers ever! I'll be a total legend!" He said excitedly.

Camicazi stared down at him. "Oh, what a cutie. He's so rude." Camicazi said hugging him. "He's like a smaller less rough looking Snotlout." Gustav blushed and tried to break away from her grasp. He didn't like being babied. At least not in public.

A loud noise came from above and everyone looked up to the sky. There was a chopper hovering above the stadium, and a man with a microphone was hanging out of the side. "Hello everybody! How's it going?! My name is Blader DJ, and I will be hosting this event!" The man yelled out excitedly.

The two screens on the opposite sides of the stadium lit up and gave a closer view of the man's face. "I want to welcome both our competitors and a viewers to the first ever Battle Bladers tournament! We've had many local tournaments around here, but never one of this scale and size! I hope you're ready to see some epic battle, because we'll have them in spades!"

Hiccup grew wide eyed. Viewers? They were on TV? This really was a big deal! "Some of the best bladers in our country have gathered here to put on a show and compete for the chance to be known as the strongest! As you can see below we have a number of fiery youngsters here ready to put it all on the line! Who'll come out on top?!"

"Before we continue we'd liked to thank the sponsors of today's tournament, Southern Isles industry and Arendelle Inc!" He said as the screen showed two emblems that Hiccup could only assume were the company logos. "Now without further ado, let's kick off the preliminary event! The rules are very simple! Each of you has been assigned a number!"

Everyone listened closely, intent on hearing how the preliminaries would go down. "Those numbers will decide which stadium you are going to participate in! There will be four main stadiums that all the participants will battle in! Each of them will battle until there are only four victors left in each stadium! Those four will make up the top sixteen of the tournament!"

"We will present the brackets and the numbers that are assigned to them! You have ten minutes to locate your stadium and prepare for battle! Then everyone who isn't in the first stadium will be asked to go to the waiting room until it is your turn! Here's to an epic battle!"

The stadium's appeared on the screen, all showing the numbers they contained. Hiccup looked down and checked his number. He was in stadium number three. "Looks like we're in the same stadium." Gustav said. Hiccup looked down at him concerned. It wouldn't do to have someone gunning for him right off the bat.

"Look Gustav, I know you have it out for me but-"

"Beating you in the preliminaries would suck. So for just this once… I won't go after you. But just because I'm not coming after you doesn't mean we're working together. It's every man for himself out there. Just stay out of my way Haddock." He said pointing at him.

Gustav suddenly felt a pair of arms around him. "Oh my gosh, what a brat! I love him!" Camicazi said lifting him off his feet. "You do your best to make it past the preliminaries cutie." Gustav squirmed out of her arms before scurrying off towards Stadium three.

Tuff and Ruff head butted one another. "Same stadium! The deadly twin combo is officially in effect!" Tuff said. "We'll see you in the top sixteen losers!" He said as they walked off towards stadium one.

Fishlegs sighed. "I'm in the same stadium as them. Wish me luck guys." He said before following after them. Hiccup felt sorry for his friend. He was pretty sure Fishlegs could make it, but being around the twins was always a taxing experience.

"Number two." Astrid said holding up her number.

"Same." Camicazi confirmed. "Would do you say for just this once we show everyone how the top two dogs of the Bog-Burglars use to battle together?" She asked holding out her fist.

Astrid smiled and fist bumped her. "Work together now, fight later." The two both began heading towards stadium two. "Good luck Hiccup. Make sure you don't get knocked out early. I do want the chance to take you down too you know."

Hiccup chuckled. "No promises."

* * *

"Alright! We'll be starting off with Stadium one's battle! I hope everyone participating is ready! We're in for one heck of a show!" DJ yelled raising his fist into the air.

Fishlegs took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. Being in a battle with so many people was a first for him. He was used to facing people one on one. But this would be a free for all. Hiccup and Astrid could tell he'd been nervous before they headed to the waiting room. They said this type of battle actually suited for him.

He could see their point. Gronckle was power, and could knock a regular bey out with little to no effort. He was pretty sure if he swept around the stadium once he could take out half the people here. But his nerves were still getting to him. He had the twins in his battle, and they were a fearsome tag team. Even he would have trouble with both of them.

He didn't know who else would end up in this crazy battle. He heard gasping from the other side of the stadium and then looked up. His eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. Of all the people to end up in his qualifying match, why him? "Hello folks. Don't mind me, just cruising on by." Dagur said with a devious smile on his face.

The twins both paled. "Crap."

Hiccup and Astrid who were watching from the waiting room cursed under their breaths. Of all the rotten luck, Fishlegs had to be stuck with Dagur. They knew their big friend was strong, power wise he was the strongest of their group. But just Dagur's mere present would have him panicking. He wouldn't be able to think clearly. "Calm down Legs…" Hiccup muttered.

Dagur smirked and pulled out his bey. It was a sleek black one with an edgy fusion wheel and a white spin track. "There it is, his Wicked Skrill." Camicazi said narrowing her eyes. She had seen it in action plenty of times before, she'd even battled it a few times. "I'm sorry about your friend Astrid, but I don't think he'll be making it out of this."

"Leg's defense in top notch. And he doesn't have to beat Dagur, he just had to make it to the top four. If anyone can last up again Dagur then-"

"I don't think you understand. It's unlikely Dagur is going to let ANYONE pass this round." She clarified. Hiccup and Astrid looked at her worriedly before sharing a glance. Was he really powerful enough to take out EVERYONE in the stadium?

Fishleg's was shaking. "Crap. Crap. Crap. I got the worst luck of the draw." He said shaking his head. He needed to think of something. He needed to slow down, stop panicking, and think. He took another breath before staring towards Skrill. An attack type for sure, speedy, though probably not as fast as Fury. No, it's power probably wasn't physical.

If he had to guess from the shape of the fusion wheel, it would be more energy based, like Nightmare. He turned towards the twins. The confidence and swagger they'd shown earlier was now gone. "Guys, I have a plan." Fishlegs said.

They both turned towards him. "Yeah?" Ruff asked. He nodded before leaning down and whispering said plan into their ears.

Dagur looked around the stadiums. Almost everyone was staring at him, and he knew what that meant. They were all going to attack him at once. It made sense. Strength in numbers was a basic survival trait. But in this case it meant nothing. Because in the end, a group of nobodies still added up to nothing in the face of real power. He chuckled and placed Skrill on his launcher. "Alright everybody! Get ready!" DJ yelled.

Legs looked at the twins who both nodded. They would stick to the plan. While they didn't like working with anyone besides each other, they knew this was just about the only chance they had at surviving against Dagur. They both had Zippleback model beys, Tuff's being attack, and Ruff's being defense.

"Three!" DJ shouted.

"Two!" The audience shouted.

"One!" The bladers around the stadium yelled. "Let it rip!"

Everyone shot their beys into the stadium, most of them aimed towards Skrill. Dagur grew a wide smile on his face. Skrill lit up, and suddenly lightening shot out from it, covering all directions. The beys that were sent at it were all immediately knocked out, and even the ones that weren't were being flung out.

In an instance, everyone had been completely knocked out of the stadium. "G-good grief! The battle is already over?! I don't believe it! In a single move Skrill has eliminated every single one of its opponents! That's got to be one of the quickest wins I've ever… w-wait! Hold on a moment!" He shouted.

Dagur stopped his smirking when he noticed that there was still another bey in the stadium. In fact, there were three other beys in the stadium. Gronckle had been pushed back quite far from where it had in the beginning. Behind it were the Zippleback beys, who seemed to have been backing it up the whole time.

"I can't believe my eyes! It seems that Gronckle and the Zippleback beys have managed to survive the devastating attack by grouping together! Gronckle using its high defense, and the Zippleback beys backing it from behind! What a strategy! We have our four victors folks!" DJ said as their faces appeared on the screen. "Dagur Deranged, Fredrick Ingerman, and the Thorston twins are all moving on the top sixteen!"

Astrid pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Way to use that big brain Legs!"

Hiccup cheered as well. "He did! He survived against Dagur! Way to go man!"

Camicazi smirked. She had thought that they were all done for, but it seemed they had managed to find a way. That Fishlegs was cleverer than she'd given him credit for. Heather looked on curious. "Interesting. His defense is even higher than I thought." She muttered. She would have to go back and add some data on Fishleg's file.

Thuggory looked at the screen with interest. While it was true Gronckle had been helped by the Zippleback beys, he was sure it would have survived without them. He grew a small smile on his face. "This could be fun."

Dagur looked at the remaining beys annoyed. He had intended to wipe them all out, and that's what should have happened. That fact that they survived, that they defied him, was not only insulting, but it made him look bad. "Watch your back fat one." He said glaring at Legs.

Fishlegs paled and backed away a few feet. The last thing he had wanted was to make an enemy of Dagur. The twins on the other hand didn't seem to show any fear. "He's not afraid of you! He just totally tanked one of your attacks! You think he's scared?!" Tuff asked.

"Actually I'm terrified." Legs pointed out.

"Yeah, he can take you one any day of the week!" Ruff shouted.

"What are you guys doing to me?!" Legs shouted.

Dagur ignored them and headed back towards the waiting room. He was done here.

* * *

**A/N: Alright, so we've kicked of the tournament! I know not a lot of battling, but believe me, the next chapter will be action packed. Now, the biggest problem I had was finding the top sixteen. I mean obviously Hiccup and his group are making it, but I had to find other characters from HTTYD to fill in the rest of the spots. I thought for a moment about using other characters from Dreamwork/Disney, but that would spoil it. **

**One of the things I've also been thinking about doing is adding music. Not literally of course because... this is fanfiction. But just inserting an OST from the show you could play while listening or something. I've seen other stories do it and I like the idea. Now the problem is I want to add music from the old and new series, and while the older series has an established soundtrack, the Metal series is a bit of a mess. **

**Which is a shame, because I really liked a lot of it's battle music. IDK, maybe I'll find a way to make it work. Tell me what you guys thing about it.**


	9. The Preliminaries

Astrid and Camicazi stood before the stadium with matching grins. After seeing how Legs had managed to hang around in Stadium One, they were eager to show what they had too. And not to mention they would be working together, something they hadn't done in years. "We sticking with the old strategy?" Camicazi asked eagerly.

The other blonde nodded. "It'll feel pretty nostalgic going with our old tag attack." She said holding her fist up. "We're going to mow through the competition easy." Across the stadium Heather watched the two carefully. She couldn't afford to take it easy with these two working together. The best thing she could do was avoid them.

Inside the locker room Hiccup smiled. Camicazi was considered one of the favorites to win the tournament. He'd seen how powerful she was. And he'd trained with Astrid, so he knew how much stronger she'd gotten as well. Together there was no way they wouldn't be able to make the top sixteen. "Good luck Astrid…"

"Aw, cheering for your girlfriend?" He turned and saw the twins snickering at him. "I knew you were hopelessly in love, why else would she have trained you?" Ruff asked.

"Yeah. You two are just like love sick puppies. I bet if you win this thing she'll give you a big kiss." Tuff said elbowing him. "Better do your best man."

Hiccup held his hands up. "What?! N-no! We're not like that! We're just friends!" He could tell what he was saying was going right over their heads, they were still laughing at him. He blushed and looked away, and as he did he noticed Legs was staring down at the ground. "Um, you okay buddy?" He asked concerned.

Fishlegs jumped and then looked towards Hiccup surprised. "What? Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a little… concerned." He said nervously. It was no surprise he was nervous. Hiccup still remembered how afraid he was when he thought Dagur was after him. Legs must have really been feeling the heat.

Hiccup patted his shoulder. "Look, you survived an attack that wiped out everyone else in the stadium, and Gronckle was still going strong. I know it's a little scary thinking that he's got it out for you, but have some confidence in yourself. You're a really strong blader Legs." The larger boy nodded, but Hiccup could tell her was still nervous.

"Alright ladies and gents! Let's get ready to start Stadium Two's battle! Remember, the last four remaining bladers will be added to the top sixteen, and will still be in the running for the title of the Battle Bladers Champion!" Blader DJ yelled into the mic. "Is everyone ready?!" The bladers all nodded or gave a cheer of confirmation. "Alright then! 3!" He yelled.

"2!" Astrid and Camicazi yelled putting Nadder and Changewing on their launchers.

"1!" Heather said pulling out her own bey.

"Let it Rip!"

Everyone launched their beys inside the stadium. In an instance there were dozens upon dozens of spinning tops circling around it. "And here we go! Unlike last time the battle has been going for more than five seconds! Let's see what this round's competitors have got!" DJ shouted excitedly. The crowd cheered in approval.

Astrid looked towards Camicazi and nodded. "Changewing, vanish!" Changewing glowed for a moment before suddenly disappearing.

"And there it goes! Camicazi's vanishing act! With no way to find out where Changewing is, does she intend to sit out the rest of the battle and let the others pick themselves off?!"

She snorted. "Thinking I'd just run and hide? Don't underestimate me! Changewing!" The sound of metal clashing rung through the air before three beys suddenly went flying into the air and out of the stadium.

"Oh! And Changewing uses its stealthy abilities to get a surprise attack, knocking out three opponents at once! Will anybody be able to deal with this cunning strategy?!"

One of the other bladers pointed down. "There! She has to be in that area!" He shouted. "Quick, surround it and take her out! Otherwise we'll never be able to deal with it!" The other bladers around him looked hesitant, but then glared. They nodded before sending their beys to move in on Changewing.

They couldn't see exactly where it was, but once they closed in it wouldn't have anywhere to retreat to. "Thanks for grouping together like that boys." Astrid said smiling. "It makes it way easier to take you out! Nadder, Spike Storm!" Nadder glowed before firing a barrage of energy spikes. The spike easily ripped into the group of beys, sending dozens of them flying out.

"Oh, and Nadder has ripped into the crowd of beys! Astrid has eliminated even more of the competition, from the other side of the stadium no less!"

One of the other competitors growled before moving towards Nadder, but was struck from behind and send flying out. "Not so fast." Camicazi said wagging her finger. "You can come at Changewing, or you can come at Nadder. But you can't do both."

Heather looked bored. She had hoped to see them show a little of their power, but working together like this was helping them win with little effort. "Hey, pay attention!" The boy beside her yelled. His bey came barreling towards hers. "They may be teaming up, but that doesn't mean you can just sit back and do nothing!"

Heather rolled her eyes. "Razorwhip." She said holding her hand up. In an instant her silver bey had moved out of the way of the attack, and countered with one of its own. Sparks flew as it shredded into the opposing bey. A few bits fell off of it as it was sent sailing out of the ring. "You should have just sat back and watched." She said shrugging.

Astrid and Camicazi kept up their strategy. Every time someone went for Nadder, Changewing would begin picking them off. Likewise, when they would try and find Changewing, Nadder would go on the attack. By the time they had tried splitting up into groups their numbers had dropped and they were simply out matched.

"Unbelievable! This simple but effective hit and run strategy by Nadder and Changewing has slowly been cutting through the competition! These two are unstoppable! It looks as if it we already have two of our top sixteen decided!"

A few feet from Astrid and Camicazi stood a masked figure. The figure watched Nadder and Changewing closely, then lifted their hand. A bright glow separated itself from the crowd of beys. A brown and cream colored bey suddenly broke off from the others circling the stadium. It zipped over towards the other side of the stadium, and suddenly everyone heard a clash.

Camicazi grew wide eyed as Changewing suddenly appeared again. It was being pushed back by brown bey. "What?! How did they spot me?!" Camicazi asked in disbelief.

Astrid was just as shocked. She got ready to move over and help Camicazi out, but suddenly a blur or silver cut her off. Razorwhip was keeping her from moving forward. "What?! You!" She said glaring towards Heather.

"Sorry, but I think I've got all the info I need out of you. And with Camicazi distracted you're easy pickings." Heather said waving her hand. "Razorwhip, shred!" The sharp edges on Razorwhip's fusion wheel scratched again Nadder. Sparks flew through the air as Nadder was pushed back.

DJ looked stunned. "Oh! And in an instant the tables have turned! Changewing and Nadder have gone from dominating the competition to being pushed to the edge! It seems this mystery blader and Heather were simply biding their time to look for an opportunity to strike!"

Hiccup looked worried. Things hadn't exactly taken a turn for the worst, but Astrid and Camicazi were now separated. He had no idea how powerful this mystery blader or Heather was, but if they were pushing them back then they had to be trouble. "C'mon girls, you got this." He muttered.

Camicazi glared as Changewing pushed the brown bey off of it. "I don't know who you are, but you messed up when you picked a fight with me! Changewing!" She shouted. The masked figure showed no reaction as Changewing charged at her bey. Right as it was about to attack, the brown bey swerved out of the way. "What?!"

Fishlegs gaped. "I-it dodged from that close?! No way!"

"Changewing goes for a devastating attack, but is easily dodged! Whoever this mystery blader is, they are a force to be reckoned with!" DJ yelled.

Changewing went in for another attack, but the other bey once again dodged. Camicazi looked frustrated. No matter how many times she went in for the attack, the opposing bey would dodged just mere inches before collision. "Vanish!" She shouted. Changewing disappeared. The masked figure may have been good at dodging, but how would they deal with an attack they couldn't see coming?

The masked figure stared down at the stadium. It suddenly moved and then attack at seemingly nothing. Another clash rung through the air and Changewing went flying. "Whoa! Somehow the mystery blader has managed to predict Changewing's movements, even while invisible!" DJ yelled.

Camicazi growled before going back in. The brown bey kept on dodging the attack. Changewing might as well have been moving in slow motion.

Astrid on the other hand was fairing a little better against Heather. Razorship and Nadder were clashing over and over again, struggling to push the other back. "Well, well, well, someone has been practicing. And here I was thinking you'd shown everything in your little back of tricks."

"You haven't seen anything yet sister!" Astrid said waving her hand. "Nadder, Spike Storm!" Nadder glowed once more before firing off another round of energy spikes. Razorship began dodging the attacks, and the few that weren't dodged it managed to parry with its sharp fusion wheel. Astrid looked annoyed.

Usually types like Heather were more careful bladers. They would sit back and observe. But she was definitely more about offense. "You think that level of attack is going to be able to stop me?" Heather asked chuckling. "No chance!"

Astrid balled her fist up. "Well then maybe I should up the ante!" Nadder glowed brighter and fired even more spikes. Razorship began zipping around the stadium to dodge the attacks. The other beys that had gotten caught in the crossfire were quickly knocked out. Razorwhip zipped by Changewing and the brown bey. "Oh crap! Look out!"

Some of the spikes went flying towards them, but they easily avoided them. Astrid let out a sigh of relief. She could have almost taken out Camicazi. She quickly looked back towards Heather, ready to continue their battle. "And the battle of Stadium Two is over! We have our four winners!"

Astrid and Camicazi both looked up surprised. They'd been so into their battles they hadn't even noticed Astrid's attack had wiped everyone else out. "Astrid Hofferen, Camicazi Bertha, Heather Deranged, and… the Masked Blader!" DJ shouted. "Congratulations, you have moved on to the top sixteen!"

Astrid looked annoyed. She had wanted to finish her little bout with Heather. The other girl looked slightly disappointed as well. Camicazi however merely eyed the masked blader carefully. They were strong, really strong. There was no way someone of that skill shouldn't have been known already. She would have to keep an eye on them.

* * *

Hiccup let out a breath as he stood before the stadium. It was finally his turn to show what he had. Legs and Astrid had made it, now it was up to him. "Alright, you can do this." He said rolling his shoulders back. All he had to do was stay focused and calm.

"Just stay out of my way." He heard Gustav say. He sighed and shook his head at the younger boy. Gustav either knew how to hide his nervousness, or just wasn't nervous at all. He pulled out his Nightmare and set it on its launcher. "I'm totally ready." He said excitedly.

Hiccup glanced across the stadium. Most of the competitors looked like kids his age. There were a few younger ones like Gustav too. There was one competitor who definitely stood out though. He was a huge older man with a long black beard. "That's… weird." He said raising his eyebrow. The man looked grumpy for some reason.

"Okay everyone! It's time for Stadium Three's battle to get going! 3!"

"2!" The audience shouted.

"1!" The bladers yelled.

"Let it rip!"

Once again the stadium was filled with beys. "Fury, let's move!" He said. Fury sped up and rounded the stadium, knocking out a number of beys as it did so.

The DJ looked stunned. "WHOA! Fury moves around the stadium with blinding speed, taking out dozens of opponents at once!"

Astrid pumped her fist into the air. "Yeah! That's how you get it done Hiccup!" She shouted. Beside her Camicazi gave her a nudge and smirk. Astrid glared at her. "Shut up, I'm cheering for my friend." She said crossing her arms.

"You didn't cheer that loud for Fi-" Astrid elbowed her.

Fury kept moving around the stadium, knocking beys out left and right. It was moving so fast that even when the other beys tried to surrounded it, it just zipped away. Gustav looked over at him annoyed. "GRRR! Trying to show me up again! Well no dice! Nightmare, Flame Star!" Fire shot out from around Nightmare and began wiping out all the surrounding beys.

"Oh, and Nightmare is tearing through the opponents with a blazing assault!"

The old man watched the two tear through the other beys. He rolled his eyes. This was pathetic. How could so many weaklings even be allowed to enter a tournament like this? He had hoped to relive some of that old nostalgia he got from battling when he was younger, but with this level of competition that wasn't happening.

"It seems that the two beys Nightmare and Fury are running unopposed, as they rip through the competition!" DJ yelled. Suddenly a bey zipped forward clashing into Fury, and stopping it right in its tracks. "Holy moly! Another bey has suddenly come in and stopped Fury in its tracks!"

Hiccup looked at the blade, and then at the boy who was glaring at him from the other side of the stadium. DB growled. "I refuse to believe someone of your caliber legitimately defeated Snotlout, you must have cheated somehow, and I'm going to out you as the fraud you are!" He shouted waving his arm. "Hot Burple! Go!"

The green bey began pushing Fury back. "OH! Burple is pushing Fury back with ease! It's gone from speeding around the stadium to being pushed around like a toddler!"

The others looked surprised. They knew DB was one of Dagur's top men, but they didn't think he'd be able to stand against Hiccup. Heather raised her eyebrow. "Someone has been training in his free time…" She muttered as she started recording the battle.

Hiccup frowned. "Fury, push back!" He yelled. The black bey pushed back, and the two were deadlocked. "C'mon Fury, don't let up!"

"Burple, push him out of the stadium!"

The two beys backed up, only for a moment, before charging back at one another. They once again clashed, the force of the impact sending a few of the weaker opponents flying. Gustav glanced at them only for a moment, wondering if he should cut in. He was pretty sure if he'd teamed up with Hiccup or DB, they'd be able to overpower the other.

But he didn't want to take either of them out, not now anyway. DB was always kind to him when he stopped by the Berserker hide out. He was almost like a big brother. And Hiccup was his rival. Taking him out here would be… unsatisfying. He shook his head. He decided to just let them fight it out. He didn't need to get involved. He'd focus on the other opponents.

"Nightmare, Flame Star!" Nightmare lit up before fire spiraled around it. It easily swept away the other beys surrounding it.

The old man watched the younger boy with a smirk. He wasn't exactly the strongest out here, but he was good for his age. And he had spirit. He thought about taking him on, but that would be a shame. He wanted to give the kid a chance to shine later. So for now he'd just lay low and stay out of the way.

DB kept sending his Burple at Fury, and the other bey returned the attack in full force. The two seemed more or less even, until DB realized that that Burple was getting knocked back a little further from each attack. He also noticed Fury was rebounding from its attacks quicker. "The differences are starting to show." Heather muttered.

Burple suddenly found itself being knocked back. It skipped a few times and DB looked stunned. How could he have lost in power to Fury? "Fury is using its speed to make up for its lack in power. By building up momentum quickly, it can add more force behind its attacks." Heather noted as she typed into her phone. She had to log all this data.

"I think it's pretty clear that his beating Snot was no coincidence. And he's only gotten stronger since then. But I'm still eager to see just how strong. Please try and get him to show me something DB." She said smiling.

DB began to realize he was losing this power struggle. He grunted and Burple moved away. It began circling around to attack Fury from a different angle, easily knocking out the dozens of beys that got in its way. Fury zipped around and met it head on. The clash sent shockwaves through the stadium. DB growled.

How could this be happening? He'd been sure that Hiccup's win was a fluke. So how was he matching him like this? Hiccup on the other hand seemed totally calm. DB was strong, but this wasn't anything compared to his battle with his cousin. "Fury, let's finish this!"

DB growled. "As if! Burple, destroy him!" The two beys rushed at each other once more, and the impact of their collision shook the stadium. They kept charging, both trying to win the struggle, but it was Fury who managed to knock it back. "What?!"

Burple bounced back and Fury moved in to capitalize. "Stadium three's battle is over!"

Both Hiccup and DB looked up towards the DJ, then back at the stadium. Sure enough, there were only four beys left. "Hiccup Haddock, Doug Brook, Gustav Larson, and Alvin Ogglebert! Congratulations on moving to the top sixteen!" DJ shouted.

Hiccup looked back down at the stadium in disbelief. He'd made it. He knew he had a pretty good shot at it, but… to actually make it. It felt good. DB looked furious. How could he have been struggling, losing, against this guy? Gustav was excited. He'd taken out a majority of the competition. He'd felt unstoppable.

Alvin was… taking a sip from his flask. He was being careful about not being caught by the DJ or on camera. In the back, the others cheered. "We made it! We all made it!" Fishlegs said happily.

"Was there any doubt we would?" Astrid said smiling.

Camicazi chuckled. "Congrats you guys." She was happy that they'd made their way into the tournament. It was always easier to have friends with you in a competition. She glanced over towards Thuggory. She had no doubt that he'd dominate stadium four.

For now though she would just celebrate with the others. Between Astrid, Fishlegs, and the others, it was a pretty festive mood. "Nice." She said smiling.

* * *

Thuggory looked bored. He'd come to this battle to fight strong opponents. But all those strong opponents had been spread out to the other stadiums. He sighed. Fighting Camicazi and Dagur at the same time would have been fun. But he supposed he'd just have to settle for facing them one on one. He pulled out his bey, Snaffle Fang, and placed it on the launcher.

He glanced around. There didn't seem to be anyone worth noting around here. One guy had an air on confidence about him, but he was also weary. "Looks like it'll be an easy pass for Thuggory." Heather said.

"Of course it is. Any bracket I wasn't in was an automatic easy pass." Dagur said simply. "But I have to say, I am disappointed. I hadn't expected Snotlout to cop out. Guy always seemed too stubborn to quit. Oh well, anyone who can't tough it out isn't worth my time."

Heather frowned. She had forgotten about Snotlout. It really was a shame he didn't show up. She wanted to see just how much stronger he'd gotten. DB on the other hand looked frustrated. It was bad enough that he couldn't beat Hiccup, but now Snotlout was throwing away his final chance at redemption.

Hiccup had managed to hear a few words of their conversation from across the room. He had been waiting for Snotlout to show up too. He never thought his cousin would miss a chance at a tournament like this. "Where are you…?" He muttered under his breath.

DJ lifted the microphone up. "Alright! Now we can begin our final preliminary match! Everyone in stadium four get ready to-!" "Hold on a second!" A voice shouted out. Everyone turned and then saw another person making their way towards the stadium.

Snotlout marched towards the stadium, clothes ragged and warn, covered in scratches, and purpose in his eyes. "Sorry I was late. But I should be signed up right?"

DJ looked at him closely. "Stephen Jorgenson. Yes, you're definitely registered." He said. "You were almost late there. We would have had to disqualify you."

Dagur grew a wide smile. "Well I'll be darned. He actually showed." Heather and DB both smiled. While they both had different reasons for wanting Snotlout back, they were genuinely glad to see the second in command back.

"The prodigal jerk returns." Astrid said. "He couldn't even have a normal entrance."

Hiccup chuckled. "Well, it wouldn't be Snotlout if he didn't try and show off."

Gustav smiled. "I knew he'd show up."

Thuggory looked towards Snotlout with interest. He'd seen the second in command of the Berserkers plenty of times before, but he'd always brushed him off as a weakling. He was strong by a normal bladers standards, but nowhere near the level of the gang leaders. This time however… he seemed different. "You got stronger." Thuggory said.

Snotlout looked towards him and smirked. "You better believe I did."

Thuggory couldn't help but smile. So this was going to be a little interesting after all. "Let's see just how much." He said putting Snaffle Fang on his launcher. Hiccup looked at the green and red bey. It was definitely a defense type. It had a rock fusion wheel, and ball performance tip.

"Bring it on." Snotlout said as he pulled out Monstrous Nightmare.

DJ could feel the tension in the air. He gulped before shaking his head. He had a job to do, and he needed to do it. "O-Okay! Let's get this going then! Stadium four's battle will now commence! 3!" He shouted.

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it rip!"

Everyone launched their beyblades at into the stadium. Nightmare and Fang landed before moving right towards each other. Camicazi frowned. "This'll be over quickly." She said. The others looked towards her confused. "Those two are both stubborn and bullheaded. It's pretty obvious their going to go all out from the start."

"Nightmare!"

"Snaffle Fang!"

The beys glowed brightly. Nightmare grew flames around it, while Fang tore apart the very ground it ran over. They clashed and an explosion went off. Fire shot up into the air, and the stadium below them cracked apart.

Hiccup and the others could feel the shockwave of the clash from the waiting room. Astrid nearly feel over, and Fishlegs was already on the ground. Camicazi looked shocked. She could tell that Snotlout had gotten much stronger. That was a no brainer. But strong enough to clash with Thuggory? Strength wise Snaffle Fang was the strongest bey of the three leaders.

Dagur had a look of surprise on his face. He never expected for Snotlout to get this powerful. Heather and DB were clearly just as surprised. "H-he's so strong." Heather said amazed.

Snotlout and Thuggory stood off against one another. The dust cleared, and beys began raining down around them. There were almost no beys left in the stadium. Even among them there was only one still moving. It was wobbling, barely managing to keep spinning.

Thuggory had a wide smile on his face. "Ha… ha-ha! This is great! I thought this tournament would be boring! I didn't think anyone but Camicazi and Dagur would be my only competition! But this time around it's full of strong guys! This is going to be a blast!" He said laughing.

Snotlout chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Full of strong guys. Just remember who's going to stand at the top when this is over." He said before looking to DJ. "As much as I want to finish out battle, it's only to the top four right? Shouldn't you call this or something?"

DJ snapped out of his shocked state. "U-Um! Yes! The battle for stadium four is over! The winners are Stephen Jorgensen, Thuggory Malone, and… Norman Nam."

"Wait just a moment. I believe you're missing someone." They turned towards the man who Thuggory had noticed earlier. He was still smirking confidently. "Eret, son of Eret."

DJ was about to comment on how only three beys were left, when suddenly something dropped down from the sky and landed in the middle of the stadium. It was a bey. DJ looked stunned. "Wha-?! I-I don't believe it! We have another bey that survived the attack!" He said in disbelief. "W-Well then! Eret has also passed the preliminary round!"

"And we now have our top sixteen made up for the main tournament! This is sure to yield some interesting results!"

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter! I hope you guys liked the battles. I thought about having Snotlout and Thuggory duke it out some more, but I didn't want to show too much of either. I've already showed off a lot of what Camicazi has, and some of Dagur, so I think I'll keep Thuggory a little more concealed. **

**The top sixteen are chosen! Alvin, the masked blader, Norman(Based of No-Name, one of the dragon trappers on Eret's ship.) and Eret were meant mostly just to fill spaces. I didn't want to throw any of the other character in yet. It would throw of the chemistry. **

**Okay then, remember to read and review.**


	10. The Bracket

Hiccup rubbed his chin and looked down at the ground in thought. The feeling he had right now was… bittersweet. He and his friends had made it past the preliminary rounds. They had managed to climb over hundreds of people to make it to the top sixteen. That was definitely something to be happy over.

What he was worried about however was his competition. He knew for a fact that at least one of the Three Gang leaders was after him. Whether it was Daggur or Thuggory, he wasn't sure. Then there was his cousin Snotlout, who had come back with power he'd never seen before. It seemed liked just he was starting to get confident, another wall dropped down in his way.

He suddenly felt a slap on his back, nearly knocking him to the floor. "Hey! What are you looking for down for! We made it to the top sixteen! We're supposed to be celebrating!" Tuffnut said chuckling. After sitting himself back up and glanced around at the rest of the table.

Astrid had insisted they go out and celebrate their group making it into the tournament. The twins and Camicazi had decided to tag along. Gustav had thought about it, but then opted for going to see Snotlout. Probably to bug him about his training.

They'd stopped by a pizza place and ordered… probably more than they could eat. Well, Fishlegs would probably finish it off. "That's easy for you to say. You don't have two people targeting your back." Hiccup said sighing.

"Oh suck it up. You're not the only one." Astrid said glancing over at Fishlegs. The boy seemed to be wallowing in his own fear. He still hadn't gotten over the threat Dagur had made towards him. Camicazi told him that he shouldn't worry about it. Dagur made threats all the time, and usually forgot about them. But that didn't seem to ease the big guy's worries.

Camicazi shook her head. "You picked some pretty squirmy friends Astrid. Look, you guys don't need to worry. Dagur could care less about you Hiccup, and he'll probably forget all about you Legs. He only cares about people he considers a strong. Chances are he'll forget all about you by tomorrow." She said waving her hand.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "I… I'm not sure whether to be relieved or offended. But either way, I still have to worry about Snotlout."

Camicazi opened her mouth to answer, but then thought about it. "Hmm, yeah, he did match up with Thuggory in a head on clash. Never seen anyone do that. And he does have a grudge against you… you may be screwed." She said chuckling.

"I'm glad you find my pain amusing."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Stop worrying Hiccup. I'll admit he got a little stronger… okay, a lot stronger. So did you. You beat him before, and you can beat him again." Hiccup looked doubtful, but nodded. "And we can always train some more until tomorrow! I'm pumped up and I need to let off some steam!"

Hiccup chuckled. "I gotta admit, I'm kind of psyched too. I still can't believe we made it to the top sixteen. We're going to be battling on live television."

"I'm gonna wink towards myself in the camera, then go home and watch past me wink to future me!" Tuffnut said pumping his fist.

"Ugly winking to ugly. Isn't that like, a paradox or something?" Ruff said chuckling.

"Let's all aim for the top! Its Beyblade champion or bust!"

* * *

Snotlout made his way towards the top of the Berserker base. After his little display of power in the preliminary's Dagur had wanted to talk to him immediately. He didn't know what exactly about, but at this point he didn't care.

As he made his way to the top of the stairs he saw Dagur sitting on the couch, a wide smile on his face. Heather and DB were both standing at his sides, and he could see Gustav hiding behind a vent panel in the back. The little twerp was still sneaking around here. Thuggory gave him a nod, which he returned, and Heather simply smirked at him.

"Well, well, well, the man of the hour is here." He said happily. He sat up and leaned on his knees. "I have to admit, I never imagined you'd come back as strong as you did. I mean, being able to tangle with Thuggory. That's no small feat. To think I was going to kick you out. You may have some use yet."

Snotlout looked him in the eyes. "Honestly, I owe it to my cousin. Losing to him made me realize just how weak I really was." He said looking down at his fist. "I was just trying to cling to you to get to the top. If I was going to get real strength, I needed to work for it myself."

"And so you have." Dagur said pleased. If his second in command could match the other gang leaders, then he'd be unstoppable. "Like I told you last month. My friend has set you and your cousin up in another bracket. With your newfound power beating him should be easy. As for our match. I'll rough you up a bit and you can take a dive. Wouldn't want to damage your bey too badly." He said casually.

Heather frowned. She knew Snotlout had gained a lot of power, but did he really just assume he'd make it to the finals? There was a chance she or DB could go up against him. If DB was insulted by the gesture, then he didn't show it.

"Or, how about this. I defeat my cousin, then I take you down, and win the tournament."

Everyone grew wide eyed. They all turned to Snotlout who was wearing a seriously expression on his face. Dagur looked at him confused. "I… I'm sorry, I must have misheard you." He said before standing up. "It sounded like you just said you plan on beating me. But I know that can't be true. You have to know better than to entertain a flight of fantasy like that right?"

Snotlout smirked. "I didn't stutter." He said meeting the other boy's dangerous glare. "I do appreciate everything you've done for me. I wouldn't have made it this far without you. But like I said, I'm done riding your coattails. I don't need you to climb to the top. I'll do it on my own, with my own power. You can consider this my two weeks' notice."

Dagur couldn't believe what he was hearing. Neither could the others. Was Snotlout being serious? "You… you're serious…" Dagur stepped towards him, teeth grit and eyes dangerous narrowed. "You ungrateful little… I spent years putting up with you incompetence, you weakness. I offer you a chance to follow me to the world championships. And now that you've gotten a little power you want to bit the hands that feeds you?"

"Like I said. I'm grateful. But I don't want to follow the strongest, I want to be the strongest. Standing behind you is only going to hold me back." He said before turning around. "From here on, you're nothing but a stepping stone to the top for me…"

Dagur's eyes turned red. Did he just refer to him as a stepping stone? Him? The leader of the Berserkers? The most feared of the gang leaders? Before he could speak again, DB walked forward. "I'm leaving too…" He said bluntly. Heather grew wide eyed and Gustav had to cover his mouth to keep himself from gasping.

Dagur turned towards the usually stoic Dogsbreath. "Oh, is that so? I suppose you're going to follow your little friend here eh? Is that's what's happening? The second in command leaves, so it turned into a full on rebellion?" He asked, brimming with anger.

DB frowned. "I joined because I wanted to be part of the strong. To be strong. But I haven't gotten any stronger. I battled against Hiccup and… I was going to lose if we'd kept going. Staying here hasn't made me stronger. It's just made me settle. I won't stand for that. I'm not going to follow Snotlout. But I'm not going to stay under you either. I'm going to go my own way." He said sternly.

Dagur leaned back and laugh. "HA! What a touching little speech! Well, is that it then? Anyone else want to leave? Heather? Are you planning on bailing out too?"

Heather looked downwards. "I don't care about being the strongest. I'm perfectly happy just collecting data. I could do that here or… somewhere else." She muttered.

Dagur snorted. "Whatever. Just go, the lot of you. This gang was only something I did out of boredom anyway. By the end of the tournament I'll have no need for any of you." He flopped back down on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling.

Heather looked at him slightly concerned. Not out of any concern as siblings, but just how he'd react. He had earned the name deranged for a reason. He definitely wouldn't just let something like this slide. "I said get out, you ungrateful worms." He said shooing them away. "Scram." DB sighed before heading out, and Heather gave one last hesitant look before following.

Outside, Snotlout left the base of the Berserkers. It felt a bit strange. He'd been part of them for so long, and now he'd cut ties with them. He didn't feel sad or sentimental, he just felt… free.

"Snotlout." He turned back and then saw DB approaching him.

"I hope you're not thinking about following me or anything. I didn't quit this gang just to try and start a new one. I'm on my own from now on." Snotlout said sternly.

DB shook his head. "No, I wasn't. I still look up to you, but I know just by seeing your power in the preliminaries that you're right. I can't get stronger just by following others. I'm going to go forward on my own now. I just wanted to let you know, that if we face off in the tournament, I won't be holding back."

"Neither will I!" They both turned and saw Gustav standing nearby. "I've been training like crazy to try and join the Berserkers, but lately I'm starting to think I'm better off on my own anyway! I'm gonna win this tournament and become the strongest!"

"Guess that makes three of us gunning for the championship." Heather said leaning against the door. "I can't lie and saw I'm craving to be the strongest like you three, but… I do feel fired up for this tournament. Watch out boys, cause I'm not pulling any punches."

Snotlout smirked. "Well then…" He said turning to leave. "…may the best Blader win."

* * *

"What exactly are you doing back here?" The masked woman turned around from the edge of the building and saw Alvin staring at her. "I can't imagine you suddenly became sentimental and wanted to visit the old gang." He said glaring.

The women remained silent and turned away from him. Alvin scowled. "Seriously? Why are you trying to give me the silent treatment? I already know it's you Valka. Did you think I wouldn't recognize you?" Once again, she was silent. "Oh well. Guess I'll call up Stoick and-"

"Don't you dare!" The woman snapped.

Alvin clapped. "She speaks!"

The women reached up and pulled her mask off before letting her brown braided hair fall down. She pouted at him. "Why are you here Alvin?" She asked annoyed. She had figured so long as no one she knew too well was near her it'd be fine. But Alvin had to join the actual tournament and spoil everything.

Alvin chuckled. "I came across that meathead nephew of yours Snotlout in the forest. Hot head reminded me of myself at that age. So I threw him a bone." He said before taking a sip form his flask. "And you? What brings you back here? Been quite a long time Valka."

"My leads have… run a bit cold. I have an idea about where to head next, and since I had to pass by here I figured I may as well see how my boy was doing."

"By entering a tournament?" Alvin asked.

She shrugged. "What can I say? It's been a while since I got to just bey-battle. And when I saw that Hiccup was a part of it, I just had to enter. I just knew sending him that bey would work wonders. He'd turned into quite the talented blader." She said proudly.

Alvin chuckled. "Aye, takes after his folks. But your nephew is no slouch either. That boy has a latent talent like I've never seen before. I'm interested in seeing just how far he can take it."

Valka sat down and smiled. "Look at us. Sitting here and talking about the next generation. It wasn't long ago that we were the ones aiming for the top."

"We all have to pass the torch sometime." Alvin said taking a seat himself. "Hopefully those runts will make it farther than we did."

Valka nodded. "I'm sure they will. We'll be giving them a push in the right direction after all." She said smirking. "I have no intention on holding back against either my nephew or my son. It won't help them grow stronger if we just baby them."

Alvin nodded. "They'll have to overcome walls much taller than us if they're serious about reaching the top." He said getting ready to take another drink. Valka suddenly snatched the bottle. "HEY!"

"Constantly drinking is bad for your health." Valka lectured. Alvin grumbled before taking out another flask. Valka shook her head. "Old drunk…"

* * *

The crowd cheered loudly as the top sixteen bladers stood on stage.

Hiccup and Fishlegs looked nervous. The former about being in front of such a large crowd, and the latter about being in such close proximity with Daggur. Astrid and Camicazi looked a hundred percent focused. The twins were soaking in the attention. Eret just wore a confident smirk on his face, like he had everything already planned out. Norman just… stood there.

Snotlout was yawning. When was this thing going to get started already? Heather was going over notes on her phone. She wanted to memorize the info on everyone so she'd be ready no matter who she fought in the first match. DB simply stood with his arms crossed, and Gustav was slapping his cheeks to hype himself up.

Thuggory was smiling, looking forward to whatever battle he was going to have. None of them looked like weaklings, so this would be fun. Daggur had an amused look on his face. This was pretty normal for him to be honest, but after what had happened yesterday, Heather couldn't help but think he had something up his sleeve.

Alvin was wearing a scowl. He couldn't sneak any drinks in with all these cameras around. He glanced over at the masked woman. "_What's she doing here?"_ He thought raising his eyebrow.

"Welcome everyone!" Blader DJ shouted excitedly. "Today we're going to be revealing the tournament bracket, and getting through round one! I hope you guys have your socks on securely, cause we don't want them getting knocked off when these epic battles start taking place!" He shouted.

He turned and then pointed towards the large screen in the middle of the stadium. "Let's stop beating around the bush and get to it then! Who'll be the first to throwdown for the title of the strongest! Let's do this!" The screen began flickering, showing names all across it. After a few moments the screen flashed a bright light, and then a bracket appeared. Names suddenly fell down into place among it. "And there we go!"

1\. Snotlout vs. Gustav

2\. Alvin vs. Tuffnut

3\. Astrid vs. Camicazi

4\. Daggur vs. DB

5\. Norman vs. Eret

6\. Heather vs. Miss Mask

7\. Fishlegs vs. Thuggory

8\. Hiccup vs. Ruffnut

Snotlout grunted. Not because he was up against Gustav, but because he noticed that he and Daggur were on the same side of the bracket. Daggur had said his friend would put him up against Hiccup, but it seemed he had a change of heart. That meant he'd have to face him in the semi-finals. Whatever, that just meant to get to Hiccup, he'd have to beat Daggur.

His former gang leader smirked at him. He was going to show both Snotlout and DB what the cost of turning on him was. He very much doubted Snotlout would lose to anyone else he'd have to face in this bracket. He'd smashed them apart on his way to the top.

Gustav looked slightly nervous. He knew he'd have to face Snotlout eventually, but right off the bat? He balled his fist up. So he had a big hurdle to pass. So what? He'd find a way. "Don't expect me to hold back! I'm coming at you with everything I got Snotlout!"

Snotlout broke his gaze from Daggur and looked down at him. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. Bring it on squirt. I'm not holding back on you either." He said smirking.

Tuffnut smirked. He was up against the old man. This should have been an easy enough win. Alvin on the other hand barely glanced at Tuffnut. Without his sister to combo with, he wasn't much of a threat.

Astrid and Camicazi smirked at one another. They would have preferred to save their showdown for the finals, but they were still eager to settle it. "No holding back." Astrid said.

The other blond scoffed. "Not a chance."

Dogsbreath was glaring at Daggur. He wasn't even paying attention to him. Did he think just because he was Snotlout or a gang leader that it was already decided? Well he'd show him wrong. He knew it would be an uphill battle, but he'd bring him down somehow.

Norman looked towards Eret who shrugged. "Sorry mate, got to take ya down." Norman tried to give his best intimidating look, but it didn't even seem to phase Eret.

Heather scowled and looked at the masked woman. Of everyone here, she only lacked data on her and the old man. To be paired up against her in the first round was a huge setback. "Guess I'll just have to wing it…"

Fishlegs was relieved and worried at the same time. He didn't have to worry about Daggur, at least not until the finals. But he did have to face off against Thuggory. He felt a pat on the back and turned to see the gang leader smiling at him. "You were the one who tanked Daggur's attack right? Not bad. Looking forward to our battle! Let's tear it up!"

Legs looked a bit surprised. For a gang leader he was pretty… friendly. "Y-yeah."

Hiccup looked over at Ruffnut, who was scowling towards him. A month ago she would have been glad to have him as a first opponent, but now that he was so powerful, this would be tricky. Hiccup smiled towards her. "Let's have a good match."

"Yeah, whatever…" She muttered.

He sighed and turned back towards the board. Both Snotlout and Daggur were on the other side of the bracket. Then there was Astrid and Camicazi over there as well. To even meet one of them in the finals he'd have to get past either Thuggory or Fishlegs, neither of whom he thought he was a good match up against.

A smile broke across his face. He should have been nervous. There were so many strong people here. Getting to the finals was going to be a task in itself, never mind winning. But he was just excited. He was here, with a chance to battle all of these guys. All of the worry and nervousness had vanished.

"Now, let's get ready to rumble! We will give our contestants a few minutes to prepare themselves before starting the first round!"

* * *

**A/N: Alright! I'm back! Know I haven't updated in a while, but I have been B to the IZZY... busy. I've been busy... **

**Anyhow, I didn't proof read this one, so there might be a few grammar errors. Feeling a bit lazy and am in a rush. Probably go back and go through it later. I also went ahead and revealed that the masked woman was Valka because... let's be honest, everyone knew. **

**And it looks like the bracket isn't going down as expected. What's going to happen?**


	11. The First Round

The waiting room was tense. Everyone inside was quiet, and trying to occupy themselves with one thing or another. But everyone kept glancing towards the two in the first round. Snotlout was just leaning against the wall. He looked like he was deep in concentration… or sleeping, they couldn't really tell. Gustav looked like he was trying to calm himself.

He knew being in the top sixteen meant he'd have to fight strong opponents, but he never expected to get one of the strongest right off the bat. He'd been hoping for one of the twins or that Norman guy. But he couldn't fret over it now. This was the hand he'd been dealt, and he'd find a way to deal with it. "You okay?"

He looked up and saw Hiccup giving him a concerned look. Gustav gave a nervous smirk. "H-ha! Of course I am! Do you think I'm nervous or something! I-I'm pumped! I'm going to power through the first round and take this whole thing!"

DB sighed. He felt sorry for the kid. He didn't stand a chance against Snotlout. Heather rolled her eyes. There was no point collecting data on the first battle. She knew Snotlout had gotten stronger, much too strong for Gustav to take on. She wouldn't get any impressive data from this.

"That's the spirit." Hiccup said giving him a thumbs up. "Just go out there and give it your best shot. I think you can do it." Gustav wondered if he was just patronizing him, but he looked serious. Did Hiccup really believe he had a chance against Snotlout?

"You shouldn't get his hopes up just for him to fail." Heather pointed out. The others turned towards her, Astrid and Camicazi shot her a glare. "Don't give me that look. It's crueler to lie to him about what's going to happen. Statistically speaking, he stands no chance against him. So telling him he could win is just setting him up to fail."

Hiccup looked towards her. "You don't know that he can't win. You never know what could happen in a battle, right? He's got just as much a chance as anyone of us here."

She rolled her eyes. "That's sweet, but the fact is the chances of him winning are slim to none. There's a bigger chance of a meteor cashing down on Snotlout then Gustav beating him." Snotlout opened his eye and scowled at the comment. "Not that I'd want that to happen." She said slyly.

Camicazi stepped beside Gustav. "Don't let her get to you kid. None of us were anywhere near as strong as you when we were your age. You're good."

A man suddenly stepped into the room. "Excuse me. But the first round is about to begin. Will the first competitors please follow me out to the arena?" He asked.

Snotlout stood and headed for the door. Hiccup nodded towards Gustav, and Camicazi knelt down and kissed his cheek. "Good luck cutie." She said winking at him. He blushed and quickly made his way out the door. DB nodded towards him as he walked out.

"So… how long do you think he'll last out there?" Tuff asked.

"A minute, maybe two." Ruff answered.

* * *

"Alright folks! The time has finally come to get started! Are you all ready to see some awesome battles?!" Blader DJ shouted. The crowd cheered loudly, eager to get the competition going. "I thought so! Let's get ready to kick off the first round! Give it up for our first contestants!" DJ shouted before pointing to the left.

"In this corner we have the hot headed powerhouse, the trailblazing, eyebrow raising, inferno master Snotlout!" He shouted. The crowd cheered as Snotlout walked out with his fist raised into the air. "He and his Monstrous Nightmare have blazed through the competition so far! Will he use that same fire to reach the finals and grab the championship as well?!"

DJ turned towards the other side of the stadium. "And in this corner, we have our youngest competitor! The little guy who fought the odds and earned himself a spot with the big boys! Gustav! Can he and his Flame Nightmare keep it up and fight their way to absolute victory!"

Gustav tried to look confident as he walked out. As if facing Snotlout wasn't bad enough, he felt like everyone was staring at him. Well, they were… but still.

"Now, the Nightmares will clash! Which one of these two will come out on top?! We're about to find out! Bladers, are you ready?!" DJ shouted. Snotlout nodded before putting his Monstrous Nightmare on his launcher. Gustav gulped, but then nodded as well. He prepared to launch Flame Nightmare. "Alright then! 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it rip!"

Snotlout and Gustav both shot their Nightmares into the stadiums. The two blades landed on opposites sides, and began zipping around the stadium. Gustav narrowed his eyes. He knew if this got dragged out, he wouldn't stand a chance. He needed to finish this as quickly as possible. "Flame Nightmare, Flame Star, level five!"

Fire began swirling around Flame Nightmare. It quickly rushed right at the opposing bey. "Oh, and Flame Nightmare is already using its special move! It seems Gustav is trying to end this right out of the gate!" DJ yelled. Flame Nightmare slammed into Monstrous Nightmare. It pushed it back a bit, but the other bey bucked forward and knocked it away.

"What?!" Gustav couldn't believe it.

Hiccup frowned. He shouldn't have been surprised after that display of power he showed against Thuggory, but it was still impressive that Snotlout could shrug off attacks like that. "I told you he didn't stand a chance. All you did was give him false hope." Heather said looking annoyed.

As much of an annoyance as he was, she had a bit of a soft spot for Gustav. She would have preferred he been able to brace himself for the lost. Now he was just going to take it even harder. "The battle isn't over yet." Camicazi stated.

Heather frowned. "He just hit him with everything he had, and it did nothing. He's got no more aces up his sleeve."

"Battles aren't all about tricks and moves…"

Snotlout smirked. "Not bad Gustav, you really have gotten stronger." He said crossing his arms. "But you still got a ways to go against me. Nightmare!" Monstrous Nightmare rushed forward and smashed into Flame Nightmare. It pushed it back towards the edge of the stadium. Flame Nightmare just barely managed to move before getting pushed out.

"Oh! Flame Nightmare just barely managed to avoid a stadium out!"

Gustav balled his fist up. His strongest attack had been completely shut down. What was he supposed to do now? Snotlout hadn't even begun to show what he was made of yet, and he was already at a dead end. "GAH! Screw it! All I can do is attack, so I'll just keep attacking!" He yelled angrily. "Flame Star, level five!"

Flame Nightmare flared up again and charged. Monstrous Nightmare met it head on, they clashed, and they were both knocked back. "Again! Keep going!" Gustav yelled. Flame Nightmare once again flared up and went at it.

Snotlout chuckled. "Just going to go in head first huh? Fine, let's go!" Monstrous Nightmare met it head on again, and the two just kept clashing in the middle of the stadium.

"And the two Nightmares are clashing head on! It looks like this has turned into battle of endurance! Who's going to break down first?!"

Gustav kept his eyes locked onto the battle. The beys clashed again, and both went skipping back. He scowled. Snotlout still wasn't using his fire. He was giving it everything he had, and Snotlout was barely even trying. "I know you're stronger than me…"

Snotlout looked up at the boy with a raised eyebrow. Their beys clashed again, and this time locked up in the middle of the stadium. "The whole reason I started looking up to you was because you were so strong. I wanted to be strong like you…" He said. "But I'm tired of looking up to people! From now on people are gonna look up to me!"

Flame Nightmare started to glow brightly. "I'm not gonna be a follower, or play second fiddle to anyone anymore! I'm gonna be the one at the top!" A storm of fire began ensnaring Flame Nightmare. "And I'm gonna start by beating you! Nova Flame!"

The fire intensified, and began pushing Monstrous Nightmare. "Good gravy boats! Flame Nightmare has suddenly taken control of the match! It's pushing Monstrous Nightmare to the edge of the stadium with an amazing new display of power!" Heather grew wide eyed. That was new. Hiccup and Camicazi both smiled.

Snotlout smirked. "Heh, you really are smarter than me. You figured it out years before I did." He said before suddenly growing serious. "But that still doesn't mean I'm just gonna let you win. Nightmare, Inferno Dome!" Monstrous Nightmare suddenly stopped, and dome of fire burst from it. An explosion of heat shot up into the air.

The audience could feel the heat from their seats, and DJ had taken cover behind his podium. The blast sent Gustav flying back, and he landed on his back. The fire died down, and a few seconds later his bey landed a few feet beside him. He looked over and saw his Flame Nightmare, which had a little smoke coming off of it. "I… I lost."

"Wow! Amazing! Monstrous Nightmare ends the bout in a single move!" DJ yelled. "The winner of this battle is Snotlout! Meaning he moves on to the next round!"

Gustav picked up his bey and looked down at it. He couldn't believe it. He'd pushed himself past his limit, but he still got defeated so easily. He gripped Nightmare and squeezed his eyes shut. The last thing he wanted to do was end up crying in front of thousands of people, but… he felt so bad. He'd trained like crazy for this, and it was already over.

He was so far behind Snotlout, behind almost everyone here. He still had so much longer to go… but he was going to get there! He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. "Y-You may have won this time, but I'm not even close to done! I'll come back even stronger and totally own you next time!" He shouted. "Just you wait and see!"

Snotlout cracked his neck before turning and walking off. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you." He said waving back at him. "I'll beat you down anytime you feel like it. So bring it."

Back in the waiting room, Heather hummed. The outcome was still what she'd predicted, but she hadn't seen Gustav getting that new power. Maybe she would have to keep an eye on him after all. Hiccup and Camicazi both smirked. Gustav lost, but he was still his usual self, bouncing back immediately.

Dagur scowled. Snotlout had gotten soft. He could have finished that fight from the beginning, and he knew it. Why did he bother humoring that little brat? He hoped he didn't expect the same mercy.

* * *

"Alright everybody! It's time to get to round two!" DJ said holding up two fingers. "In this corner, we have the…" He looked at the card and squinted. "The baron of bruising… okay? The roughest rowdiest one of the bunch! Tuffnut!" Tuffnut came out pumping his fist in the air.

"His opponent, the cutting edge elder! The sub-terra terror, who has buried his opponents, Alvin!" Alvin walked out with a scowl on his face. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could get back and get something to drink. "Are you ready?!"

Tuffnut rolled his shoulders back. "Totally ready." He said smirking. He pulled out his bey and the other backs in the waiting room looked surprised. That wasn't his Zippleback. The bey was a reddish orange, with a milky white mixed in.

"I've never seen that one before." Hiccup said narrowing his eyes.

Ruff chuckled. "We don't always use Zippleback you know. They're only for our team combinations. We have our own beys for one-on-one battles." She explained. "That's his Typhoomerang."

Hiccup looked at the bey closely. It was obviously an attack type. That fusion wheel, while not quite as sharp as Heather's Razorwhip, was something to be weary off. Alvin pulled out his own bey, Whispering Death. "A defense type?" Fishlegs questioned.

"A balance type."

They all turned over and saw Snotlout laying on one of the benches, yawning. "How do you know?" Heather questioned.

Snotlout just smirked. "Cause I do." He said causing her to pout. "Anyway, this is a waste of time. No way Tuff's going to win this."

Ruff frowned. "Hey! Just cause you got stronger doesn't mean you can act like some big shot now. Tuff may not be too bright, but he's good enough to take down some old man."

"He'll lose." Snotlout repeated.

The others glared at him, but then turned back to the screen. Alright then! Let's began! 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it rip!"

Tuff shot Typhoomerang into the stadium, and Alvin sent Whispering Death in as well. They landed, and Tuffnut immediately went for the attack. "Alright Ty! Crush him!" It went crashing into Death, but the other bey pushed back and sent it bouncing.

"Didn't even leave a scratch…" Legs said worriedly.

"You need to have some more power than that if you want to put a dent in my Death boy." Alvin said cracking his neck. "That type of attack won't even scratch the surface."

Tuff growled and Typhoomerang charged at Death again. It kept hitting it over and over, but Death didn't budge. "C'mon! How tough is this thing?!" He shouted angrily.

"Oh! I don't believe it! Typhoomerang is going all out, but it can't even move Death! Can this bey really be a balanced type?!" DJ asked in disbelief.

Tuff growled once more, and Typhoomerang backed up before charging. It smashed against Death. It kept pushing, and eventually managed to inch back Death. "Oh, not bad." Alvin said smirking. "But not good enough." Death bucked against Typhoomerang and sent it bouncing back again.

Tuff looked at him in disbelief. This thing was way too sturdy for a head on attack. "Alright then, try this one on for size!" Typhoomerang zipped off to the side and off the edge. It went soaring up into the air. Once it got above Death, it came spiraling down towards it, sparks of flame flickering around it. "Typhoon Boom!"

"OH! It appears Tuffnut is going for the kill!"

Ruff smiled. "There's no way that old geezer can stand that attack."

Alvin chuckled. "Now we're getting somewhere." He said. Typhoomerang crashed down onto Death, and dust and debris was sent flying into the air.

"Oh! Typhoomerang landed with a devastating attack!" DJ yelled as everyone looked towards the center of the stadium. Typhoomerang was wobbling a bit, but still spinning. "There's Typhoomerang, but Death is nowhere to be found!"

Ruff chuckled. "Because there's nothing left to find."

"Well, it seems as if Death has been completely blown apart! So the winner is-" The stadium suddenly began to shake. Tuff nearly fell over. He looked down at the stadium and saw cracks beginning to form underneath Typhoomerang. "W-what's going on?!"

Suddenly, Death came shooting out of the ground, hitting Typhoomerang from below. It sent it flying up into the air. "What?!" Tuff said shocked. Typhoomerang went flying out of the stadium and landed behind Tuffnut. He turned back and looked at his bey, jaw dropped.

"I-I don't believe it! Death just shot up from underground and uppercuted Typhoomerang out of the stadium! T-the winner in a shocking turnaround, is Alvin!"

The crowd was silent for a few moments before suddenly bursting out in a cheer. They hadn't expected this old man to be able to put on such a show. "No way. Just no freaking way." Ruffnut said. How could her brother lose to this old fart?

"It went underground? How?" Fishlegs asked.

"The old geezer is a ringer huh…" Heather muttered.

"Told you." Snotlout said shrugging.

Hiccup watched as the old man caught his bey and began heading back to the break room. Himself, Snotlout, the Gang leaders, the masked women, this old man. This tournament was full of surprises.

But one thing was for sure. The gang leaders were definitely not the only one to look out for in this tournament.

He heard a giggle and looked over towards Camicazi. "Well, that was certainly a show." She said before standing up. "But I think it's about time we got out there and really show them what a battle looks like, huh Astrid?"

Astrid got up and well and cracked her knuckles. "Hmm, got that right." She said. "We're finally going to settle this once and for all."

The two began making their way towards the stadium. They didn't need to wait for their names to be called. They were both eager to get this started. Hiccup watched the two blondes walk off. Hiccup could feel the tension between the two of them. "This… isn't going to be pretty, is it?" Hiccup asked.

"No. Not it is not." Legs said.

Heather smirked. "Oh, this is going to be interesting." She said pulling out her laptop.

* * *

**A/N: WOW! It had been a while since I updated ANYTHING. I mean, crap. I was trying to get things done after work, but my cat was biting at his tail(and still is) and I've had to deal with that. **

**Well, I finally got this updated. Expect my other stories to be updated soon. **


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